<fD  -PTJITSTm^TOTSr       "M       J.  oJ* 


Shelf... 


BR  45  .B35  1881 
Hampton  lectures 


imssmt 


,M -y '^^&MM%^i-il^ 


fmtlj,  IdUhms,  anb  ^sate  bcsirtb  bj  tljj  Rations, 
anb  rtbealtb  bj  teua  fflljrist. 


EIGHT  LECTURES 


DELIVERED    BEFORE 


THE   UNIVEESITY    OF    OXFOED, 

IN  THE  YEAR  1881, 


ON    THE    FOUNDATION    OF 


JOHN  BAMPTON,  M.A.  Lecf  uY-es 


CANON    OF   SALISBTTRY. 


BY 


JOHN  WORDSWORTH,  M.A. 

TUTOR   OP   BRASENOSE   COLLEGE  ; 

PREBENDARY    OF   THE    CATHEDRAL   CHURCH    OF   ST.  MARY    OF   LINCOLN, 

AND    EXAMINING    CHAPLAIN    TO   THE    BISHOP    OF   LINCOLN. 


^^in  |0rk: 

E.  P.  BUTTON  AND  COMPANY^ 
713,  BEOADWAY. 


0  God,  who  hast  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  didst  send  Thy  blessed  Son 
to  preach  peace  to  them  that  are  far  off  and  to  them  that  are  nigh ; 
grant  that  all  Thy  people  everywhere  may  seek  after  Thee  and  find 
Thee ;  and  hasten,  0  Lord,  the  fulfilment  of  Thy  promise  to  pour 
out  Thy  Spirit  upon  all  flesh:  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen.  * 

*  A  prayer  of  Bishop  Cotton's,  slightly  altered  by  substituting  the  words 
in  italics  for  all  the  ■people  of  India. 


TO   THE    MEMORY    OF 
MY    FRIEND    AND   TEACHER, 

JAMES  BOWLING  MOZLEY, 

WHO    HAS    BEEN    CONSTANTLY   IN    MY   THOUGHTS 

IN    WRITING    THESE    LECTURES, 

1    DEDICATE   THIS    BOOK. 


0  God,  who  hast  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  didst  send  Thy  blessed  Son 
to  preach  peace  to  them  that  are  far  off  and  to  them  that  are  nigh ; 
grant  that  all  Thy  people  everywhere  may  seek  after  Thee  and  find 
Thee ;  and  hasten,  0  Lord,  the  fulfilment  of  Thy  promise  to  pour 
out  Thy  Spirit  upon  all  flesh:  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen.  * 

*  A  prayer  of  Bishop  Cotton's,  slightly  altered  by  substituting  the  words 
in  italics  for  all  the  people  of  India. 


EXTRACT 

FEOM  THE  LAST  WILL  AND  TESTAMENT 

OF   THE    LATE 

EEY.  JOHN   BAMPTON, 

CANON   OF   SALISBURY. 

"  I  GIVE  and  bequeath  my  Lands  and  Estates  to  the 

"  Chancellor,  Masters,  and  Scholars  of  the  University  of 
"  Oxford  for  ever,  to  have  and  to  hold  all  and  singular  the 
"  said  Lands  or  Estates  upon  trust,  and  to  the  intents  and 
"  purposes  hereinafter  mentioned ;  that  is  to  say,  I  will  and 
"  appoint  that  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of 
"  Oxford  for  the  time  being  shall  take  and  receive  all  the 
"  rents,  issues,  and  profits  thereof,  and  (after  all  taxes, 
"  reparations,  and  necessary  deductions  made)  that  he  pay 
"  all  the  remainder  to  the  endowment  of  eight  Divinity 
"  Lecture  Sermons,  to  be  established  for  ever  in  the  said 
"  University,  and  to  be  performed  in  the  manner  following : 

"  I  direct  and  appoint,  that,  upon  the  first  Tuesday  in 
"  Easter  Term,  a  Lecturer  be  yearly  chosen  by  the  Heads 
*'  of  Colleges  only,  and  by  no  others,  in  the  room  adjoining 
*'  to  the  Printing-House,  between  the  hours  of  ten  in  the 
"  morning  and  two  in  the  afternoon,  to  preach  eight  Di- 
"  vinity  Lecture  Sermons,  the  year  following,  at  S.  Mary's 
"  in  Oxford,  between  the  commencement  of  the  last  month 
"  in  Lent  Term,  and  the  end  of  the  third  week  in  Act 
"  Term. 

"  Also  I  direct  and  appoint,  that  the  eight  Divinity 
"  Lecture  Sermons  shall  be  preached  on  either  of  the  follow- 
"  ing  Subjects — to  confirm  and  establish  the  Christian  Faith, 
"  and   to  confute   all   heretics   and   schismatics — upon   the 


vi  Extract  from  Canon  Bamptonh  Will. 

"  divine  authority  of  the  holy  Scriptures — upon  the  autho- 
"  rity  of  the  writings  of  the  primitive  Fathers,  as  to  the 
"  faith  and  practice  of  the  primitive  Church — upon  the 
"  Divinity  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ — upon 
"  the  Divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost — upon  the  Articles  of  the 
"  Christian  Faith,  as  comprehended  in  the  Apostles'  and 
"  Nicene  Creeds. 

"  Also  I  direct,  that  thirty  copies  of  the  eight  Divinity 
"  Lecture  Sermons  shall  be  always  printed,  within  two 
"  months  after  they  are  preached  ;  and  one  copy  shall  be 
"  given  to  the  Chancellor  of  the  University,  and  one  copy 
"  to  the  Head  of  every  College,  and  one  copy  to  the  Mayor 
"  of  the  city  of  Oxford,  and  one  copy  to  be  put  into  the 
"  Bodleian  Library;  and  the  expense  of  printing  them 
"  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  revenue  of  the  Land  or  Estates 
"  given  for  establishing  the  Divinity  Lecture  Sermons ; 
"  and  the  Preacher  shall  not  be  paid,  nor  be  entitled  to 
"•  the  revenue,  before  they  are  printed. 

"  Also  I  direct  and  appoint,  that  no  person  shall  be  quali- 
"  fied  to  preach  the  Divinity  Lecture  Sermons,  unless  he 
"  hath  taken  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  at  least,  in 
"  one  of  the  two  Universities  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge; 
"  and  that  the  same  person  shall  never  preach  the  Divinity 
"  Lecture  Sermons  twice." 


PH^ST0T::TOk"^^ 


PEEFACE. 


T^HE  following  Lectures  are  a  contribution  to 
the  comparative  study  of  religion  from  a 
Christian  point  of  view.  It  is  a  subject  that 
has  been  ably  treated  by  Mr.  P.  D.  Maurice^, 
Archdeacon  Hardwick,  and  others.  Eut  it  has 
long  been  evident  that  some  fresh  discussion  of 
it  was  needed,  owing  to  the  new  light  which  has 
fallen  upon  it  from  so  many  quarters  ;  and  Chris- 
tians have  of  late  been  constantly  reminded  of 
the  misconceptions  to  which  a  partial  study  of 
the  history  of  religion  is  liable. 

I  had  for  some  time,  like  others,  been  con- 
scious of  the  want,  but  it  was  not  till  a  few  years 
ago  that  I  felt  myself  called  upon  to  do  the  little 
that  I  could  to  supply  it.  When  I  was  appointed 
by  Dr.  Mozley  to  lecture  for  him  to  candidates 
for  ordination  in  the  year  1877,  I  was  anxious 
to  give  a  systematic  and  somewhat  extended 
course  of  theology.  The  necessary  prolegomena 
to  such  a  scheme  seemed  to  be  twofold:  first, 
a  series  of  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  for  the 

°-  In  his  Boyle  Lectures  on  the  RclUjions  of  the  World, 
and  their  Bclations  to  Chriatianity,  first  published  in  1846. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

Being  and  Nature  of  God  and  the  future  Life 
of  Man  (delivered  in  Michaelmas  Term,  1877) ; 
and,  secondly,  a  course  which  covered  much  the 
same  ground  as  the  present  volume.  Dr.  Mozley's 
lamented  death  in  January,  1878,  cut  short  my 
plan  at  this  point ;  but  those  who  attended  the 
course  delivered  in  the  Latin  Chapel  at  Christ 
Church,  in  Lent  Term,  1878,  if  any  of  them 
should  see  this  book,  will  recognize  a  good  deal 
of  the  same  material,  as  well  as  a  general  simi- 
larity in  the  argument.  That  course  has,  in 
fact,  been  the  basis  of  the  present  Lectures  ; 
but  they  have,  I  need  hardly  say,  been  wholly 
re-written,  so  that  both  in  style  and  substance 
they  are  practically  new. 

My  readers  wiU,  I  hope,  excuse  this  expla- 
nation, which  it  seemed  a  duty  to  make.  I 
have  written  this  book  especially  for  candidates 
for  ordination,  and  for  those  recently  ordained, 
some  of  whom  it  may  help  to  realize  not  only 
that  their  message  is  superior  to  that  of  other 
religious  teachers,  but  how  and  why  it  is  unique 
and  universal.  I  ofPer  it  also  more  particularly 
to  those  who  have  an  interest  or  a  share  in 
foreign  missions,  from  association  with  whom 
I  have  derived  constant  help  and  encouragement, 
for  which  I  should  wish  in  some  degree  to  make 
a  return.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  without 
the  Oxford  Missionary  Association  of  Graduates, 


PllEPACE.  IX 

of  wliicli  Dr.  Mozley  was  the  first  President  '^ 
and  without  the  free  use  of  its  library  and  the 
stimulus  of  the  frequent  intercourse  with  foreign 
missionaries,  of  which  it  has  been  the  centre,  this 
book  would  never  have  been  written.  I  should 
wish,  at  any  rate,  to  take  this  opportunity  of 
thanking  most  warmly  those  who  have  spoken 
to  us  there  with  great  frankness  and  wisdom 
of  their  difficulties  as  well  as  their  encourage- 
ments, and  who  have  filled  us  with  a  sense 
of  the  unity  of  all  Christian  work  throughout 
the  world. 

The  book  may,  I  trust,  be  useful  to  some 
who  have  not  access  to  libraries,  though  it  is 
far  from  resting  on  so  broad  a  basis  of  study 
as  I  could  wish.  My  obligations  to  many  pre- 
vious writers  will,  I  hope,  be  pretty  evident  from 
the  notes  and  index.  If  any  of  them,  or  of 
other  workers  in  the  same  field,  at  home  or 
abroad,  will  favour  me  with  corrections  or  fresh 
illustrations,  I  shall  be  most  grateful.  Dr.  Oscar 
Frankfurter,  who  is  already  favourably  known 
in  England  as  an  independent  Pali  scholar,  has 
been  good  enough  to  supplement  my  imperfect 

^  Among  the  first  promoters  of  the  association,  which 
was  founded  in  the  year  1874,  were  the  late  Mr.  E.  C. 
WooUcombe,  of  Balliol  College, — whose  Christian  example 
was  a  blessing  to  all  who  knew  him, — and  the  present 
xiishops  of  Bombay  and  Colombo.  The  latter  was,  I  be- 
lieve, the  first  who  actually  suggested  such  an  association. 


X  PRErACE. 

knowledge  of  Buddhism  with  a  sketch  of  its 
tenets  as  they  appear  in  the  Pi^akas,  which 
seems  to  me  as  fair  and  accurate  an  account 
of  this  great  system,  in  its  original  conception, 
as  it  was  possible  to  write  in  so  small  a  com- 
pass °.  The  short  paper  On  the  Notion  of  Con- 
science among  the  Zulus,  with  which  Eishop 
Callaway  has  favoured  me,  will  also  be  read 
with  great  interest '^.  My  obligations  to  pri- 
vate friends  are  numerous,  and  not  least  to 
those  whose  help  has  been  given  almost  un- 
consciously in  the  unreserve  of  conversation, 
and  to  those  whose  intimate  relation  to  myself 
seems  to  make  a  formal  and  public  acknowledg- 
nient  less  appropriate.  I  am,  however,  parti- 
cularly obliged  to  two  friends,  Dr.  Liddon  and 
Mr.Wace,  who  have  helped  me  in  the  correction 
of  the  proof-sheets,  the  former  in  part,  and  the 
latter  throughout.  This  would  at  any  time  have 
been  of  the  greatest  value  in  attaining  clearness 
of  thought  and  precision  of  style,  but  it  has 
been  an  especial  benefit  to  me  owing  to  the 
circumstances  which  impeded  the  delivery  of 
the  Lectures,  and  delayed  their  passage  through 
the  press.  A  severe  accident  which  happened 
to  me  in  the  Easter  vacation,  followed  by  a  pro- 
tracted illness,  interrupted  the  course  after  three 

'^  See  below,  Appendix  I.,  pp.  337  foil. 
'^  Appendix  II.,  p.  354. 


PREFACE.  ■  XI 

only  had  been  given.  The  series  was  continued 
for  me,  as  far  as  it  was  complete,  during  the 
Summer  Term,  by  the  great  kindness  of  the 
Warden  of  Keble  College,  who  delivered  Lec- 
tures lY.,  Y.,  YI.,  in  my  place  in  the  University 
Pulpit,  besides  giving  me  advice  on  many  small 
points.  The  last  two  were  unavoidably  post- 
poned, but  by  the  goodness  of  the  Yice-Chan- 
cellor  and  Mr.  Wace  (who  yielded  me  a  turn 
which  fell  to  him  as  Select  Preacher),  were 
delivered  informally  in  the  present  Michaelmas 
Term. 

It  is,  therefore,  with  deep  thankfulness  to 
God,  the  giver  of  life  and  strength  and  love, 
that  I  send  this  book  into  the  world,  though 
not  without  a  natural  regret.  This  year,  1881, 
will  long  be  remembered  in  Oxford  as  a  year 
of  changes  and  losses,  and  there  are  eyes  which 
would  have  looked  upon  these  pages  with  af- 
fectionate interest  which  are  now  closed  on 
earth.  We  that  remain,  by  God's  mercy,  must 
strive  more  earnestly  to  do  the  daily  tasks  to 
which  He  calls  us. 

1  Keble  Terrace,  Oxford, 

Nov.  7,  1881. 


Xlll 


NOTE  ON  THE  TRANSLITERATION 
OF  ORIENTAL  WORDS. 


TN  transliterating  oriental  words,  I  have  generally 
adopted  the  missionary  alphabet  introduced  by 
Prof.  F.  Max  MiiUer  into  his  collection  of  Sacred 
Books  of  the  Fast,  chiefly  because  I  had  occasion 
to  quote  from  it  frequently.  It  has  the  two  ad- 
vantages of  being  printed  with  ordinary  type,  with 
few  dots  or  diacritical  marks,  and  of  being  based 
on  a  principle  of  phonetics.  English  readers  have 
to  remember  that  italic  k  stands  for  ch,  and  (/ 
for  j,  and  that  s  is  to  be  pronounced  like  s  in 
sure.  Most  of  us  will  be  sorry  to  part  with  ch 
(or  c)  and  j,  but  if  custom  at  length  decrees  that 
we  shall  do  so,  the  sounds  of  k  and  ^  will  be  easily 
learnt.  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  accented  vowels 
are  to  be  pronounced  long,  with  the  Italian  or  Ger- 
man, not  the  English,  sounds,  and  that  whether  we 
write  a,  a  or  a  is  absolutely  indifi'erent.  It  is  also 
to  be  remarked  that  short  a  is  very  short  in  Sanskrit, 
more  like  English  u.  I  am  afraid  that  I  have  been 
careless  from  time  to  time,  especially  in  translite- 
rating common  words  (as  Asoka  for  Asoka,  Vishnu 
for  Yishjzu,  Pitaka  for  Pi^aka,  &c.),  and  have  used 
different  accents  rather  loosely.  I  hope  the  reader 
will  forgive  this  fault,  and  not  be  much  the  worse. 
I  append  a  copy  of  the  missionary  alphabet,  as 


XIV 


On  the  Transliteration  of  Oriental  Words. 


applied  to  Sanskrit,  in  the  dictionary  order  of  the 
letters.  Cp.  Sacred  Books^  vol.  i.  p.  Iv.  Other  lan- 
guages, such  as  Zend,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Chinese, 
require  of  course  some  additional  symbols.  Strictly 
speaking,  according  to  the  rules  of  this  alphabet, 
the  vowels  e,  ai,  o,  au,  ought  to  have  accents,  e, 
ai,  6,  au,  but  they  are  omitted  in  practice. 


Vowels- 

-a,  &] 
.   .    e,  ai. 

A    0,  au. 
u,u 

ri,  ri. 

u,  n. 

Gutturals  . 

.     .  k,  kh,  g,  gh,  i. 

Palatals     . 

.  A',  kh,  g,  gh,  n. 

Cerebrals  . 

.     .  t,   th,  d,  dh,  n. 

Dentals     . 

.     .  t,  th,  d,  dh,  n. 

Labials 

.     ,  p,  ph,  b,  bh,  m. 

Semivowels 

•     .  y,  r,  1,  V. 

Sibilants    . 

.     .  s,  sh,  s. 

Aspirate    . 
Anusvara  . 

.     .  h. 

.  m.     Visarga  .     .  //, 

{Slight  nasal.] 

)        {Slight  sibilant.) 

I  add  here  a  few  Corrigenda. 

On  p.  27,  the  line  of  Terence  should  be  printed  according  to 
rieckeisen's  text,  Heauton  Timorumenos,  25, — 

"  Homo  sum  :  humani  nil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

On  p.  57,  note  21,  for  The  Beligions  of  China  read  Religion  in 
China,  the  title  of  Dr.  Edkins'  hook. 

On  p.  96,  last  line,  Ragnarok  should  rather  he  rendered  "  doom 
of  the  gods,"  or  "  world-judgment."  The  last  part  of  the  word 
has  nothing  to  do  with  "  twiUght,"  as  used  to  be  supposed,  but 
means  judgment.     See  Dr.  Vigfusson's  Lexicon,  pp.  488  and  507. 

On  p.  165  read,  "  Chiron  willingly  giving  up  his  immortality 
to  free  Prometheus  from  the  Scythian  rock  of  torture." 

On  p.  173,  note  72,  for  Scotland  read  Shetland. 


XV 


CONTENTS. 


LECTUEE  I. 

Inteoduction.    Present  Perplexities.    The  Unitt  of  Religiox. 

The  present  unsettlemcnt  in  Eeligion,  p.  1. — Its  relation  to  the 
movement  of  civilization,  3. — Sense  of  injustice  often  felt  in 
a  time  of  transition. — Book  of  Job,  5. — Christ,  however,  con- 
nects unbelief  and  sin,  6. — Moral  causes  of  unbelief,  8,  (1)  Pre- 
judice, 9,  (2)  Severe  claims  of  religion,  12,  (3)  Intellectual  faults, 
esp.  Indolence,  coldness,  recklessness,  pride  and  avarice,  14. — 
General  position  of  the  believer. — Paith  belongs  to  a  state  of 
probation,  24. 

The  present  Lectures  a  contribution  to  internal  evidence,  25. — 
The  call  upon  us  to  consider  the  unity  of  our  race  and  of  re- 
ligion, 27. — Wonderful  advance  in  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
28. — Method  of  these  Lectures. — Superiority  of  the  Biblical  idea 
of  God  (Lect.  II.).— God  a  God  of  Truth  (Lect.  III.,  IV.), 
Holiness  (V.,  VL),  and  Peace  (VII.,  VIIL),  and  as  such  sought 
by  the  nations  (III.,  V.,  VII.),  but  only  found  in  Christ  (IV., 
VL,  VIIL),  31. 

LECTURE   n. 

Biblical  Theism  contrasted  with  other  Conceptions  of  the 
Natitre  of  God. 

The  Unity  of  God  witnessed  by  instinct  and  redson,  but  only  ex- 
plicitly and  publicly  taught  by  those  who  acknowledge  the 
Bible,  p.  33. — God  revealed  to  Moses  as  both  Infinite  and  Per- 
sonal, 38. — "Why  this  unity  of  attributes  is  credible,  40. — De- 
partures from  this  belief  on  either  side,  42. 

Pantheism  a  one-sided  exaggeration  of  His  Infinity,  43.  —  Its 
danger,  47. — Dualism  a  step  nearer  the  truth,  49. — Sabellian 
and  Eutychian  types  of  heresy,  51. 

Anthropomorphic  Deism  the  antithesis  to  Pantheism,  55. — Exag- 
geration of  God's  personality  and  of  Man's  independence. — State 
religion  of  China,  57. — Deistic  tendencies  in  Graoco-Eoman  phi- 
losophy, and  in  Judaism,  60. — In  later  times,  outside  and  in- 


side  the   Church.— Islam,  63. — Pelagian  and   Nestorian  here- 
sies, and  similar  movements,  63. — Tubingen  School,  65. — Con- 
clusion, 66. 
Table  shewing  the  chief  contrasted  types  of  heresy  and  false  doc- 
trine, 68. 

LECTURE  III. 

The  Natueai,  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth,  and  the  Confes- 
sion OF  Human  Incapacity  of  attaining  to  it. 

Innate  Passion  for  Truth,  p.  69.— Non-Christian  religious  systems 
to  he  approached  with  sympathy  and  reverence,  73.  (1.)  God 
speaking  in  the  voices  of  nature,  74.— Thunder,  74. — Wind. — 
The  Sea,  &c.,  75. — Light,  76. — Profound  character  of  Vedic 
Gods,  77.— Apollo  and  Delphi,  78.— Socrates.  81.  (2.)  God 
revealed  in  human  forms,  83. — Heroes.— Kingly  Incarnations. — 
Greece. — Mexico,  83. — Scandinavia. — Egypt,  84. — China. — 
Eome,  85.— Avatars,  86.— Krishna.— Buddha,  87.  (3.)  Sacred 
books,  92:  Avesta. — Vedas,  94. — High  idea  of  Inspiration,  95. 

Shortcomings  of  these  revelations  confessed  by  the  heathen  them- 
selves, 96:  Plato,  97.— Cicero,  100.— Seneca.— Porphyry,  101. 
— The  poets,  103. — God,  who  gave  much,  withheld  His  best  gift 
of  rest,  105. 

LECTUHE   IV. 

TnE  Cheistian  Pevelation  consideeed  as  Teuth  both  Ideal 
AND  Practical. 

"The  world  by  (its)  wisdom  knew  not  God,"  p.  107. — Revelation 
the  just  harmony  of  the  spiritual  and  external,  109. 

Ideal  Truth  (1)  Comprehensive,  110:  the  One  and  the  Many,  112. 
— The  Trinity. — Union  of  the  Finite  and  Infinite  in  the  In- 
carnation and  Atonement,  112. — Christian  doctrine  of  Human 
Nature:  its  fearlessness,  113. — [2)  Mysterious :  Mysteries  in 
nature  and  thought,  lead  us  to  accept  those  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, 115.— (3)  Inexhaustible:  The  Bible  compared  with  other 
religious  books,  118. 

Practical  Truth  (1)  Authoritative,  122:  Our  Saviour's  claims  com- 
pared with  those  of  Buddha  and  Mahomet,  123.— The  Prophets. 
— Miracles,  126. — Instinct  for  authority  in  human  nature:  how 
it  avenges  itself  if  suppressed,  127.— Justin  Martyr:  freedom 
in  submission  to  the  Truth,  130.— (2)  Definite  and  intelligihle : 
Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  compared  with  other  religious  formulas, 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

132. — (3)  Permanent  and  concrete:  combination  of  flexibility 
with  firmness,  133. — Contrast  with  other  religions,  134. — Union 
of  Fact  and  Symbol  the  type  of  truth,  136. — Biblical  history, 
137. — St.  Paul  and  St.  Ignatius,  139. — Modern  Gnosticism,  140. 
Additional  note  to  p.  121,  141  ;  to  p.  125,  142. 

LECTURE  V. 

The  Natitral  Sense  of  Separation  from  God,  and  of  the 
Weed  of  Atonement. 

The  altar  to  the  unknown  God  a  true  type  of  heathen  worship, 
p.  143. 

1 .  The  separation  from  God  considered  as  connected  with  Sin  and 
Death :  Myths  of  a  golden  age,  and  contrast  with  later  times, 
146. — Departure  of  the  gods,  148. — Popular  sense  of  the  misery 
of  man,  148. — Sense  of  sin,  especially  in  classical  writers,  149. 
— Sin  a  breaking  away  from  God,  and  leading  to  death,  153. — 
Sense  of  the  impurity  of  death,  and  of  murder,  154. 

2.  Attempts  at  atonement,  especially  confession  of  sin  and  sacri- 
fice, 156. — Confession  implied  in  approach  to  a  priest,  157. — 
In  Assyria,  Persia,  Mexico,  157.  —  Extraordinary  mixture  of 
ideas  in  the  latter,  159. — Sacrifice  for  sin:  ideas  implied  in  it, 
(1)  the  most  precious  thing,  (2)  a  substitution  for  ourselves, 
162. — Bloody  sacrifice,  why  chosen,  162. — "Willingness  to  die, 
&c.,  164. — Climax  in  human  sacrifice:  union  of  best  and  worst 
in  it,  165. — Reaction  against  it  almost  universal,  169. — Mystical 
theories  of  sacrifice,  miraculous  power  especially  of  austerities, 
and  attribution  of  it  to  God,  170. — In  India  and  Odin's  Eune- 
Song,  171. — Mexican  sacrifices,  174. — Osiris,  Adonis,  &c.,  174. 
— Not  merely  pantheistic,  but  allied  to  a  first  principle  of  Chris- 
tian theology,  175.  . 

3.  Failure  of  these  attempts :  acknowledged  by  the  best  minds  of 
antiquity,  177. — Difficulty  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  insoluble 
to  the  natural  conscience,  178. 


LECTURE  VI. 

The  Incarnation  and  Atonement  a  Revelation  of  Holiness, 
WORTHY  OF  God,  and  meet  for  the  Needs  op  Man. 

Isaiah's  prophecy :  God  leading  man  along  the  way  of  Holiness, 

p.  181. 
Conflict  between  Hope  and  Reason,  183. — (1)  Grandeur  and  hreadth 

b 


of  the  Doctrine,  worthy  of  God  who  reveals  it,  186. — Majestic 
power  of  the  Creed,  187. — Objections  on  the  side  of  Love  and 
of  Justice. — Other  ways  of  reconciliation  suggested,  189. — (2) 
The  Atonement  and  Godh  Love,  191. — Inadequate  idea  of  Love 
in  objectors  to  the  Atonement. — Its  fiery  quality,  192. — "Work 
of  sin  in  the  world,  193. — Not  to  be  lightly  dealt  with,  194. — 
(3)  The  Atonetnent  and  God^s  Justice,  197. — The  innocent  suf- 
fering for  the  guilty,  197. — Principle  of  Mediation,  199. — Will- 
ing Sacrifice,  199. — Mystical  appropriation  of  it,  199. 
Practical  value  of  the  doctrine  (1)  Revelation  of  the  guilt  and  danger 
of  Sin,  200. — Necessity  of  this  thought,  201. — Horror  of  separa- 
tion from  God,  202. — (2)  Christ  the  representative  of  the  race, 
203. — Idea  of  Representation,  205. — Messianic  prophecy,  207. 
— Fragments  of  the  Idea  in  heathenism,  208. — Their  inade- 
quacy, 210. — Holiness  and  Humility  overlooked,  211. — Testi- 
monies of  non-Christian  teachers  to  Christ,  212. — Union  of  Chris- 
tians with  His  work,  215. — (3)  Direct  moral  example  of  the 
Eedeemer  ;  its  value  to  individuals,  215, 

LECTURE  VII. 

The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace,  and  the  Inadequacy 
OF  Human  Efforts  to  attain  it. 

I.  Social  tendency  of  mankind,  p.  218. — The  family  the  basis  of 
society,  219. — Obligations  to  (1)  the  ideal  of  paternal  govern- 
ment, 220. — High  conception  of  kingship,  221. — Chinese  book 
of  history,  222.— The  "Great  Plan,"  224.— (2)  The  assertion 
of  individual  liberty,  226.— Socrates,  &c.,  227. — (3)  The  sense 
of  social  duty,  227. — Plato's  Republic. — Education  of  children, 
228. — Higher  position  of  women,  228. 

Nevertheless,  the  State  cannot  make  men  really  happy,  230. — 
Impossibility  even  of  preventing  war,  231. — Limit  to  the  power 
of  rewarding  virtue,  232. — The  wants  of  the  soul  untouched, 
233. 

II.  Natural  alliance  between  Eeligion  and  Politics,  234. — Three 
theories  of  their  relation,  (1)  Popular  Eeligion  treated  as  a  pre- 
servative of  Order  apart  from  Truth,  237. — Ancient  philoso- 
phers, 238. — Polybius  on  Eoman  Eeligion,  238. — Euhemerism. 
— Varro,  240, — Italian  tendency  to  subordinate  Truth  to  Expe- 
diency, 241. — (2)  Eeligious  Eeformation  imposed  upon  all  citi- 
zens, 241. — Plato's  Laivs,  book  x. :  his  Eeligious  Discipline, 
242. — Mahomet,  244. — Formal  character  of  Islam,  245. — De- 


fective  theology  and  iriOrality. — Want  of  Love,  246. — Character 
of  Mahomet,  217. — His  lapse,  249. — Why  not  a  "true  pro- 
phet," 250. — How  far  sincere,  252. — Islam,  1.  has  stereotyped 
a"  low  form  of  social  life,  254;  2.  has  opposed  religious  and  in- 
tellectual liberty,  256;  3.  is  a  barrier  to  the  Gospel,  257. — 
(3)  Religion  a  voluntary  society,  not  necessarily  co-extensive 
with  the  State,  259. — Polynesian  Areoi,  260. — Pythagorean 
clubs. — The  Mysteries,  261. — Private  guilds,  263. — Buddhism, 
265. — Reasons  for  its  success,  266. — Assertion  of  free-will  and 
the  moral  Law,  267. — Not  really  a  religion,  267. — Selfishness 
and  apathy,  273  —Failure,  275. 


LECTURE  VIII. 

The  Peace  of  the  Ckurch  as  woetht  of  God  who  gives  it 

AND    AS   SATISFYING    THE   NeEDS   OF   Man. 

Recapitulation,  p.  278. — I.  Notes  of  the  Church  as  representing  the 
Divine  Nature;  (1)  Unity,  (2)  Holiness,  (3)  Catholicity,  279. 

(1.)  Unity,  its  double  sense,  singleness  and  concord,  280. — Other 
systems  based  on  human  concord. — The  Church  rests  on  the 
Unity  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  281. — Difficulty  of  present  dis- 
union.— Reference  to  the  invisible  Church  not  a  sufficient  reply, 
282. — Answer,  1.  the  early  Church  was  visibly  one,  283. — 
Tiibingen  theory  not  borne  out  by  facts,  284. — 2.  Unity,  on 
points  of  faith  still  very  profound. — The  schismatic  temper, 
a  sort  of  check  on  heresy,  285. — 3.  Prospects  of  future  unity, 
much  advanced  by  the  loss  of  secular  power,  287. — A  new  period 
of  history  began  in  1870,  288. — Position  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
— Of  our  own  Church. — The  Royal  Supremacy,  289. — Future 
conflict  on  fundamental  truths,  290. — Possible  mediation  by 
Churchof  England,  291. 

(2.)  Holiness,  not  self-culture  or  outward  law,  but  the  assimilation 
of  divine  life,  292. — Coincidence  of  obedience  and  freedom  in 
Christ,  293.  —  Approach  to  it  in  Christians,  especially  near 
death,  294. — Gradual  sanctification  of  nations. — Christianity 
and  national  character,  296. — Christian  legislation. — Constan- 
tine,  297. — Self-corrective  power. — Repentance  for  negro  sla- 
very, 298. — Other  social  refurms,  299. 

(3.)  Catholicity,  an  image  of  God's  omnipotence  and  omnipresence, 
300. — Definition  of  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  301. — Slowness  of 
the  work. — 1.  Influence  of  the  Church  on  action  in  social  and 


civil  life,  302. — 2.  Influence  on  thought  in  doctrine  of  the  Logos, 
305, — Necessary  overthrow  of  Scholasticism,  306. — Successive 
tendencies  to  Deism,  Pantheism,  and  Positivism,  306. — Present 
demand  for  a  Christian  philosophy,  309. — 3.  Education  oi  feeling. 
— Art  and  literature,  310. — Call  to  repentance  :  work  of  religious 
orders,  312. — Place  of  the  charismata,  314. 

II.  The  Church  as  satisfying  Human  wants,  314. — Contrast  of  the 
Jewish  Ark  and  heathen  mysteries,  315. — Dionysiac  enthu- 
siasm, 316. 

(1.)  Doctrine. — Faith  and  scepticism,  318. — Theology  recognizes 
all  classes  of  fact,  320. — Peace  given  to  the  Intellect,  321. 

(2.)  Sacraments. — Analogies  in  heathenism,  322. — Christian  Sacra- 
ments "  an  extension  of  the  Incarnation,"  324. — Practical  value, 
325. — St.  Cyprian  on  Baptism,  326. — The  Eucharist,  327. — 
Other  sacramental  rites,  328. 

(Z.)  Discipline. — Apostolicity. — The  Gospels  "the  Institution  of 
a  Christian  Ministry,"  329. — Eealization  of  Christ's  presence, 
331. — Practical  influence,  333. — Conclusion,  335. 

Additional  note  to  p.  320,  336. 

APPENDIX  I.— On  Buddhism,  by  Dr.  Oscak  Eeankfueter     337 

APPENDIX  II. — On  the  Notion  of  Conscience  among  the 
Zulus,  by  Bp.  Callaway,  of  St.  John's,  Kaffraria      .         .     354 

APPENDIX  III  —The  Purusha-Sukta,  from  Dr.  J.  Muie's 
Sanskrit  Texts 356 

INDEX 359 


LECTURE   I. 


PSALM    Ixxxvi.    9. 

All  nations  whom  Thou  hast  made  shall  come  and  worship 
before  Thee,  0  Lord;  and  shall  glorify  Thy  Name. 


INTEODUCTION.    PRESENT  PERPLEXITIES.    THE 
UNITY  OF  RELIGION. 

The  present  unsettlement  in  Eeligion. — Its  relation  to  the  move- 
ment of  civilization. — Sense  of  injustice  often  felt  in  a  time  of 
transition. — Book  of  Job. — Christ,  however,  connects  unbelief 
and  sin. — Moral  causes  of  unbelief,  (1)  Prejudice,  (2)  Severe 
claims  of  religion,  (3)  Intellectual  faults,  esp.  Indolence,  cold- 
ness, recklessness,  pride  and  avarice. — General  position  of  the 
believer. — Faith  belongs  to  a  state  of  probation. — The  present 
Lectures  a  contribution  to  internal  evidence. — The  call  upoa  us 
to  consider  the  unity  of  our  race  and  of  religion. — "Wonderful 
advance  in  knowledge  of  human  nature. — Method  of  these  Lec- 
tures.-— Superiority  of  the  Biblical  idea  of  God  (Lect.  II.). — God 
a  God  of  Truth  (Leet.  III.,  IV.),  Holiness  (V.,  VI.),  and  Peace 
(VII.,  VIII.),  and  as  such  sought  by  the  nations  (III.,  V., 
VII.),  but  only  found  in  Christ  (IV.,  VL,  VIII.) 

TF  ever  we  attempt  to  forecast  in  detail  the  future 
of  our  race,  or  of  any  important  section  or  society 
within  it,  we  find  ourselves  very  soon  in  a  state  of 
uncertainty  and  confusion.  Darkness  and  light  seem 
to  our  imaginations  to  struggle  without  any  definite 
issue ;  broad  and  brilliant  hopes  clash  with  gloomy 
prognostications ;  and  the  only  certainty  which  we 
attain  is  that  of  our  own  inability  to  form  a  picture 
of  what  will  really  happen. 


2  Introduction.  [Lect. 

Such  a  feeling  as  this  may  well  be  specially  strong 
at  present  in  the  sphere  of  politics.  Who,  for  in- 
stance, that  has  witnessed  the  wonderful  changes  of 
the  last  thirty  years,  and  has  noticed  what  a  number 
of  new  or  long-dormant  and  untried  forces  are  stirring 
within  the  world  of  nations,  can  doubt  that  by  the 
side  of  more  joyous  surprises  even  bitterer  disap- 
pointments are  in  store  for  the  generation  that  is 
to  come  after  us  ? 

But  this  feeling  is  in  no  degree  confined  to  one 
region  only  of  the  future.  The  changes  which  have 
passed,  and  are  passing,  upon  us  in  religious  temper 
and  religious  belief  are  no  less  striking,  and  are  no 
less  unsettling  to  the  minds  of  those  who  strive  to 
pierce  the  mystery  of  that  which  is  to  come.  A  pain- 
ful feeling  of  uncertainty  and  unrest  prevails  on 
many  sides,  and  when  it  is  found  too  irksome,  is 
often  merely  exchanged  for  a  strange  and  criminal 
indifference.  Men  are,  no  doubt,  very  prone  to  ex- 
aggerate the  evils  under  which  they  live;  and  the 
historical  enquirer  who  looks  beneath  the  surface 
will  frequently  find,  under  the  seeming  solidity  of 
the  so-called  "  ages  of  faith,"  a  coarse  infidelity  or 
a  subtle  scepticism,  not  unlike  that  of  which  he  is 
apt  to  complain  as  the  peculiar  disease  of  his  own 
time.  But  many  witnesses  concur  to  mark  out  the 
present  age  as  specially  unsettled  in  religion,  and 
disinclined  to  look  forward  with  confidence  to  the 
fulfilment  of  such  prophecies  as  that  which  I  have 
cited  from  the  prayer  of  David. 

There  is  much  in  this  to  create  anxiety ;  and  we 
naturally  ask  ourselves  the  cause,  in  order  that  we 


I.]  Character  of  a  ^period  of  transition.  3 

may  provide  a  remedy  that  will  attack  the  sickness 
at  its  root.  In  such  an  enquiry  we  shall  perhaps 
meet  with  more  matter  to  reassure  and  console  us, 
than  we  at  first  expect.  The  present  age,  like 
many  that  have  gone  before  it,  is  a  time  of  tran- 
sition. We  are  in  many  respects  passing  through 
a  period  like  that  which  separates  boyhood  from 
manhood.  We  are  exchanging  an  intuitive  instinct 
and  an  unquestioning  obedience  to  authority,  for 
a  conviction  which  is  the  result  of  reason,  and  a  sub- 
mission which  is  based  upon  experience. 

This  is  part  of  the  great  civilizing  movement  in 
which,  under  all  perversions  and  distortions,  we 
clearly  recognize  the  hand  of  God.  It  were  at  once 
profane  and  foolish  to  separate  this  movement  from 
Him,  and  to  ascribe  it  to  man's  unassisted  energy. 
No:  it  is  essentially  His  work,  and  is  designed  to 
raise  the  general  tone  and  temper  of  nations,  as  that 
of  single  men  is  raised  by  education  and  experience 
of  life.  Without  civilization,  there  can  be  no  as- 
sured level  of  morality.  An  isolated  act  of  heroism 
in  a  barbarous  age  may  be  as  lofty  as  any  that  we 
now  admire,  but  the  general  level  is  incomparably 
lower.  AEoman  "imperator"  may  soihetimes  rise  to 
the  ideal  dignity  of  the  "  happy  warrior,"  but  at 
other  moments  he  falls  to  the  standard  of  an  ordi- 
nary brigand.  The  civilizing  process  is  intended, 
doubtless,  to  render  such  a  lapse  impossible.  We 
must  not,  then,  quarrel  with  civilization  if  there 
follow  with  it  certain  mental  and  moral  changes, 
which  at  first  cause  us  trouble.  For  it  seems  a  ne- 
cessary result  of  such  advances,  that  some  special 
b2 


4  Introduction.  [Lect. 

individual  powers  should  fall  into  the  background, 
and  be  exchanged  for  others.  Just  as  the  savage, 
when  raised  a  few  steps  above  wildness,  loses  his 
hunter's  instincts  and  his  power  of  finding  his  way 
through  tangled  forests  and  over  unknown  seas,  so 
in  more  progressive  societies  the  feeling  of  mental 
security  and  prophetic  certainty  is  apt  to  vanish. 
But  just  as  a  road  and  a  chart  and  compass  are  bet- 
ter guides  than  the  instincts  of  a  savage,  so  rea- 
son and  experience  are  more  solid  supports  than 
mere  intuitive  certainty  and  mechanical  obedience 
to  law;  for  when  thoroughly  established,  their  ac- 
tion is  at  once  more  general  and  more  unfailing. 

The  period  of  transition  is,  however,  dangerous 
and  critical,  as  we  see  too  plainly  all  around  us. 
Sin  lies  ever  at  the  door  to  catch  men  off  their  guard. 
Many  lives  designed  by  God  to  do  His  work,  and 
endowed  with  the  fairest  treasures  for  its  perform- 
ance, seem  to  be  thrown  away,  and  come  almost  to 
nothing.  Men,  solemnly  dedicated  to  God,  relin- 
quish the  task  to  which  they  have  put  their  hands, 
or  commit  moral  suicide  by  submission  to  ultramon- 
tane tyranny,  and  call  it  an  act  of  faith  to  give  up 
faith.  Now,  as  ever,  mankind  are  prone  to  rebel 
against  the  Providence  of  God  under  which  they  live. 
In  their  self  -  will,  they  prescribe  the  terms  upon 
which  they  will  believe,  and  the  conditions  which 
must  be  fulfilled  to  secure  their  obedience.  They 
affirm,  almost  in  so  many  words,  '^  We  will  be  forced 
into  belief,  or  we  will  not  believe  at  all."  They 
call  upon  God  to  be  a  despot ;  they  clamour  against 
Him  because  He  is  not  a  tyrant. 


I.]     Sense  of  injustice  to  he  treated  with  sympathy.       5 

There  is,  indeed,  a  sort  of  childish  petulance  and 
passion  in  many  of  these  complaints,  but  the  issues 
involved  in  them  are  so  solemn,  that  it  is  sinful  to 
treat  them  lightly.  At  the  bottom  of  our  hearts  we 
may  think,  with  Bp.  Berkeley,  that  it  is  as  unreason- 
able for  such  men  to  complain  of  the  defect  of  evidence 
for  revelation,  as  it  would  be  for  a  man  to  deny  the 
brightness  of  the  sun  because  it  only  shone  upon  the 
surface  of  things,  and  sometimes  seemed  to  shine 
dimly  or  not  at  alP.  But  we  know  that  there  is 
much  sincere  perplexity  even  under  a  certain  impa- 
tience and  vehemence  of  manner,  and  that  from  the 
time  of  Job  a  sense  of  revolt  against  the  dispensations 
of  God  has  been  felt  in  certain  moments  by  many 
a  true  heart  that  loved  righteousness.  And  here  it 
may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  the  fact  that  this 
feeling  has  been  admitted,  as  it  were,  into  the  centre 
and  core  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  has  there  received  full 
justice,  is  no  slight  evidence  that  the  Bible  is  inspired 
to  be  the  manual  of  religious  truth  for  all  the  world. 
Men  are  thereby  taught  that  a  sense  of  injustice  is 
a  trial  which  they  will  have  to  meet  and  conquer; 
that  to  feel  it  is  no  proof  that  God  has  deserted  them, 
or  that  they  are  unfit  to  serve  Him.  Nay,  to  use 
the  old  illustration,  by  which  the  Abp.  of  Paris  com- 
forted the  sceptical  master  of  theology  in  the  days 
of  St.  Louis  of  France  ^,  the  king  is  more  pleased 
with  him  that  keeps  a  frontier  castle,  assaulted  and 
beleaguered  by  the  enemy,  than  with  him  who  merely 
rules  a  fortress  in  the  midst  of  the  settled  land  of 

^  Berkeley's  Alciphron,  Dial.  vi.  §  8.  ^  Joinville,  Saint 

Louis,  near  the  beginning. 


6  Introduction.  [Lect. 

peace.  And,  consequently,  those  who  do  not  suffer 
from  a  sense  of  injustice  and  uncertainty,  are  warned 
to  be  tender  and  compassionate  to  those  who  do  so, 
not  judging  harshly  the  irritability  or  weakness  which 
vexes  them  and  stirs  their  indignation,  but  hoping 
against  hope  that  God  will  soften  even  the  wayward 
and  the  stubborn,  and  call  them  gently  to  work 
again,  even  when  they  seem  to  have  declined  His 
service. 

Nevertheless,  our  most  merciful  Saviour  has  so 
definitely  linked  together  the  ideas  of  sin  and  un- 
belief, that  we  must  in  very  justice  to  those  around 
us  explain  to  them  how  and  why  they  are  so  con- 
nected. In  those  hours  when,  with  the  shadow  of 
death  upon  Him,  He  opened  His  heart  with  such 
loving  unreserve  to  His  disciples,  Christ  prophesied 
that  the  first  office  of  the  coming  Spirit  of  Truth 
would  be  to  establish  this  connection  between  sin 
and  unbelief :  *'  When  He  is  come,  He  will  reprove 
[or  convict)  the  world  of  sin  .  .  .  because  they  be- 
lieve not  on  Me"  (John  xvi.  8,  9).  Now,  before 
any  of  you  shrink  back  from  the  supposed  harshness 
of  these  words  of  Christ,  consider  the  value,  the  ad- 
mitted value,  of  the  principle  on  which  they  rest ; 
and  consider  also  that  its  establishment  is  due  to 
Christianity.  You  will  all  agree  that  neglect  of  truth 
that  it  is  in  your  power  to  obtain  is  sinful,  and  sinful 
in  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  subject-matter.  This 
extension  of  the  field  of  duty  so  as  to  include  the 
field  of  knowledge,  is  one  of  the  triumphs  of  Chris- 
tian moral  philosophy,  to  which  modern  scientific  ad- 
vance owes  more  than  it  is  likely  to  confess.    Aris- 


I.]  Voluntary  ignorance  of  truth  is  sinful.  7 

totle  said,  "  All  men  naturally  desire  to  know ; "  our 
Lord  said,  in  fact,  ''It  is  the  duty  of  all  men  to 
know,"  and  especially  to  know  the  highest  of  all 
truths,  that  of  religion.  If  it  is  culpable  for  a  young 
man  to  be  ignorant  of  some  book  which  he  offers  for 
examination;  if  it  is  more  sinful  for  us  who  teach 
here  to  be  ignorant  of  the  subjects  which  we  profess ; 
if  it  is  wrong  to  be  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  health ; 
and,  worse  still,  to  be  ignorant  of  the  moral  laws 
which  bind  man  to  man :  how  much  more  sinful  than 
all  is  it  to  be  ignorant  of  our  relations  to  God !  Sup- 
posing that  truth  respecting  religion  is  within  our 
reach,  and  as  long  as  the  least  hope  of  obtaining 
it  glimmers  before  us,  we  are  committing  a  very 
grievous  sin  indeed  in  resting  contented  in  igno- 
rance. For  by  so  doing  we  neglect  the  highest 
perfection  of  which  we  are  capable ;  we  distinctly 
determine  to  be  worse  than  we  have  the  power  of 
being,  less  vigorous  in  our  motives,  less  definite  in 
our  hopes  of  the  future,  less  noble  in  our  aspirations 
for  ourselves  and  our  fellow-men.  For  we  determine 
to  know  less  and  think  less  of  God,  from  whom  all 
goodness  flows,  and  in  whom  all  hope  of  joy 
centres. 

It  is  needless,  I  suppose,  to  urge  this  point  further. 
But  here  we  are  met  by  a  difficulty,  which  presses, 
as  I  am  well  aware,  upon  many  people,  especially  in 
societies  where  the  respect  for  intellect  is  strong. 
How  is  it,  we  are  asked,  that  such-and-such  intelli- 
gent and  high-minded  persons,  who  profess  to  give 
themselves  entirely  to  the  search  after  Truth,  whose 
lives  are  one  continual  pursuit  of  Truth, — how  is  it 
that  they  do  not  believe  in  Christ  ?     Can  we  bo  right 


8  Introduction.  [Lect. 

and  honest  in  thinking  them  sinners?  Such  men 
seem  to  say,  "We  would  willingly  believe  if  we 
could;  we  suffer  pain  from  our  unbelief,  we  feel 
that  it  separates  us  from  our  friends,  and  renders  our 
lives  less  free  and  powerful,  and  in  many  ways  di- 
minishes our  usefulness  and  success ;  but  it  is  the 
very  love  of  Truth  which  stops  our  believing." 

This  is  a  very  serious  difficulty,  and  when  it  is 
raised  in  reference  to  individuals,  I  do  not  think 
we  can  give  a  definite  answer  to  it  without  pre- 
tending to  an  impossible  insight  into  the  secrets  of 
other  hearts.  Nevertheless,  a  quiet  observation  of 
what  goes  on  about  us,  and  especially  a  study  of  the 
undercurrents  which  influence  our  own  conduct  when 
we  are  not  thinking  of  public  opinion,  but  acting  as 
inclination  moves  us,  may  suggest  at  least  some  rea- 
sonable explanation  of  the  moral  causes  of  unbelief. 

I  say  the  moral  causes  of  unbelief,  because  I  be- 
lieve these  to  be  the  true  causes  of  permanent  alien- 
ation. I  am  speaking  not  of  those  who  really 
fight  with  doubt,  but  of  those  who  acquiesce  in 
unbelief.  It  is  not  so  much  an  observation  of  the 
uniformity  of  nature,  or  a  belief  in  evolution,  that 
makes  them  first  deny  miracles,  and  then  deny 
God.  It  is  the  spirit  with  which  they  observe 
this  uniformity  and  this  evolution.  Christianity  has 
done  as  much  as  science,  if  not  more,  to  enforce  the 
truths  that  God  is  a  God  of  order,  and  that  He  makes 
step  follow  step  in  delicate  progression.  But  carry- 
ing with  it  a  spirit  of  love  and  humility,  it  recognizes 
in  this  order  and  progress  a  will  to  which  they  are 
subject,  and  finds  nothing  strange,  nothing  disor- 
derly, in  the  clearer  revelation  of  this  will  from  time 


I.]  Moral  causes  of  Unhelief.     Prejudice.  9 

to  time  in  events  which  we  call  miraculous.  To 
the  eye  of  faith,  both  nature  and  miracle  are  equally 
natural  and  equally  miraculous,  being  the  expression 
of  the  same  divine  love  and  power.  But  this  is  not 
the  case  with  those  whose  moral  sense  has  been  in- 
jured or  darkened  by  shocks  in  the  conflicts  of  the 
world,  or  by  selfishness  and  fear  of  the  claims  of  re- 
ligion, or  by  narrow  limitation  of  its  field  of  view. 

Let  us,  then,  enumerate  a  few  of  the  ordinary 
causes  which  lead  men  first  to  doubt,  and  then  to 
deny,  the  truth  of  revelation. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  evident  that  belief  is 
much  weakened  by  prejudice  against  the  excesses 
and  errors,  the  vices  and  crimes,  committed  from 
time  to  time  in  the  name  of  religion.  How  often 
do  we  hear  Lucretius  quoted,  and  not  always  with- 
out justice,  to  emphasise  the  greatness  of  the  evil 
to  which  superstitious  zeal  has  carried  even  heroic 
souls!  In  some  cases,  e.g.,  it  is  notorious  that  in- 
fidelity is  a  reaction  from  an  over-rigid  or  erroneous 
presentation  of  the  truth.  A  severe  Calvinism,  or 
even  a  hard  Anglicanism,  has  been  thrown  aside, 
and  with  it  Christianity  itself  has  seemed  to  perish  ^. 
Sometimes  the  confusion  between  sins  and  legal  of- 
fences, especially  sins  of  unbelief,  which  was  com- 
mon to  the  legislation  of  many  countries,  has  grown 
so  intolerable  to  minds  in  love  with  freedom,   that 

^  The  evidence  of  Mr.  J.  E.  Symes,  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and 
Mr.  Stewart  D.  Headlam,  in  their  speeches  on  '  Secularism '  before 
the  Leicester  Church  Congress,  Sept.,  1880,  is  well  worth  con- 
sidering. They  emphasise  especially  the  hard  views  of  some  Chris- 
tians on  Inspiration,  the  Atonement,  and  Future  Punishment,  as 
leading  the  working-classes  to  reject  belief.  {Report,  pp.  353,  650.) 


10  Introduction.  [Lect. 

religion  has  been  identified  with  a  persecuting  spirit, 
and  so  cast  aside  as  almost  absolutely  evil.  It  is 
difficult  to  over-estimate  the  influence,  let  us  say, 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  and  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  in  turning  men  with  loathing  from 
a  profession  of  religion  ^  When  Voltaire  calculated 
that  some  ten  millions  of  men  had  been  slaughtered 
under  the  pretext  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  said, 
"  Eeligion  chretienne,  voila  tes  effets ! "  he  was  using 
a  very  plausible,  though  a  very  irrational  argument  ^. 
So  again  some  of  our  own  old  penal  laws,  though 
laws  of  State  not  specially  loved  or  sanctioned  by  the 
Church,  have  had  in  their  own  sphere  a  most  disas- 
trous influence.  Sometimes  (though  happily  for  Eng- 
land the  danger  is  now  rare  among  ourselves)  reli- 
•  gion  has  been  shunned  as  tainted  with  coarse  impos- 
ture and  brutal  superstition ;  sometimes  it  has  been 
degraded  by  the  character  of  its  ministers.  An  Alex- 
ander YI.  and  a  Cardinal  Dubois  have  done  more 
injury  to  the  Church  than  Attila  or  Napoleon;  and 
even  in  more  recent  times  worldly  and  selfish  eccle- 
siastics, grasping  for  place  and  power,  have  thrown 
suspicion  upon  the  morality  of  their  whole  order. 
One  detected  hypocrite  may  make  a  hundred  infidels. 

*  Eobert  Browning  has  given  a  concentrated  expression  of  this 
feeling   in   his  vivid   'dramatic  lyric,'    The   Confessional  [^S^ffm], 
(Poetical  Works,  vol.  iii.  p.  98,  Lond.  1870,)  beginning,— 
"  It  is  a  lie — their  priests,  their  pope, 
Their  saints,  their  ...  all  they  fear  or  hope 
Are  lies,"  &c. 
^   Quoted   by   Luthardt,    Fundamental  Truths   of  CJiristiamtT/, 
Lect.  ix.  note  21,  E.  T.  p.  419,  3rd  cd.,  Edinb.  1873.     Cp.  on  the 
reply  to  such  cavils,  H.  Wace,  Bampton  Lectures,  pp'.  25,  26. 


I.]       Religious  prejudice.     Position  of  the  clergjj.      11 

The  supposed  dulness  and  ignorance  of  the  clergy- 
is  another  excuse  sometimes  urged  for  infidelity. 
They  are  reproached  for  an  unscientific  habit  of 
mind,  and  for  bringing  everything  round  to  prove 
a  foregone  conclusion.  There  may  at  times  be  jus- 
tice in  these  aspersions,  but  a  calm  review  of  past 
centuries  will  hardly  bear  out  the  conclusion  that  the 
defenders  of  Christian  truth  have  been  inferior  in  abi- 
lity to  those  who  attack  it.  If,  however,  the  clergy  are 
somewhat  slow  to  embrace  new  theories,  and  cling 
with  tenacity  to  the  traditions  they  have  received,  is 
not  this  far  better  in  them  than  a  rash  love  of  change  ? 
If  there  is  one  thing  you  can  say  with  certainty  of 
the  books  and  theories  of  those  whom  it  is  the  cus- 
tom to  call  ''advanced"  thinkers,  it  is  that  they  will 
soon  be  superseded.  As  long  as  there  is  anything 
to  be  learnt  from  the  past ;  as  long  as  truth  is  la- 
boriously built  up  by  the  slow  and  settled  results 
of  experience ;  as  long  as  history  is  the  mistress  of 
life,  and  custom  and  positive  law  the  guardians  of 
morality,  so  long  will  the  best  teachers  of  religion 
be  those  who  understand,  sympathize  with,  and  re- 
verence the  past.  No  doubt  a  mere  dead  conserva- 
tism turns  away  the  eager  and  the  fervent  from  re- 
ligion ;  but  such  will  not  be  the  temper  of  the  English 
clergy  as  long  as  they  retain  their  connexion  with 
the  Universities.  To  uphold  this  connexion  is  simple 
common  sense ;  and  they  are  no  true  friends  of  re- 
ligion who  one  moment  declaim  against  the  stupidity 
of  the  clergy,  and  the  next  moment  vote  the  abolition 
of  those  endowments  which  secure  them  their  present 
measure  of  enlightenment.     Drive  them  into  semi- 


12  Introduction.  [Lect. 

naries,  and  limit  them  to  a  mere  professional  learning, 
and  you  increase  tenfold  the  dangers  of  infidelity. 

2.  I  have  spoken  of  some  common  prejudices  which 
foster  unbelief.  A  second  sort  of  difficulty  is  not  to 
be  passed  over,  though  it  is  not  easy  to  speak  of 
it  without  offence.  I  mean  a  revolt  from  the  se- 
vere claims  of  religion,  and  a  secret  inclination  to 
sin  which  dwells  in  many  hearts.  Such  an  expla- 
nation of  unbelief  is  one  from  which  charity  and 
courtesy  alike  would  shrink,  and  it  often  seems  ob- 
viously inapplicable  ;  but  a  serious  testing  of  what 
religion  is,  and  of  the  very  heavy  strain  which  it 
puts  upon  the  believer,  must  convince  us  that  this 
difficulty  is  no  imaginary  one. 

For  experience  shews  us  that  no  amount  of  in- 
tellect, or  high  culture,  or  noble  ambition,  can  save 
a  man  from  grave  moral  faults;  and  that  even  ap- 
parently sincere  conviction  sometimes  breaks  down, 
in  cases  of  men  who  seem  entirely  raised  above  temp- 
tation. No  one,  I  believe,  can  really  know  his  own 
heart,  without  knowing  also  that  he  is  by  nature  ca- 
pable of  almost  any  sin,  and  that  there  is  within  him 
a  constant  pressure,  sometimes  gentle,  sometimes  ve- 
hement, tending  to  make  light  of  the  responsibility 
for  sin,  and  to  weaken  belief  in  the  justice  and  love 
of  God.  This  pressure,  if  once  we  yield  to  it,  tends 
directly  to  unbelief  in  revelation ;  for  the  morbid 
conscience  longs  above  all  things  to  slumber,  and 
in  the  full  brightness  of  revelation  it  cannot  rest. 
If  we  are  once  convinced  that  God  has  spoken,  all 
hope  of  peaceful  repose  in  sin  is  lost ;  and  therefore 
he  whose  heart  inclines  to  sin,  instinctively-veils  him- 


I.]  Secret  inclination  to  sin.  13 

self  from  the  knowledge  of  revelation,  just  as  the 
sick  man  tosses  uneasily  until  the  stream  of  sunlight 
is  curtained  from  his  pillow. 

This  is  the  interior  state  ;  outside,  for  a  time,  there 
is  perhaps  no  apparent  change.  The  force  of  sinful 
inclination  appears  to  have  spent  itself  in  producing 
unbelief.  The  force  of  habit  still  remains  to  bal- 
ance it.  An  equilibrium  seems  to  be  produced  in  the 
man,  and  no  striking  and  glaring  evil  marks  the  mo- 
ment of  lapse  into  infidelity.  It  seems  almost  as 
if  the  state  of  unbelief  were  not  such  a  bad  one  after 
all,  and  death  may  intervene  before  the  strife  of 
powers  has  been  decided  within  the  soul.  But  often, 
even  to  our  eyes,  there  comes  a  sudden  collapse,  and 
the  apparent  peace  which  preceded  it  is  found  to 
have  been  merely  a  quiet  rottenness  ^ 

3.  I  have  spoken  of  such  moral  failures  as  all  must 

«  Some  rather  striking  evidence  on  the  moral  results  of  infi- 
delity may  be  found  in  The  Life  of  Joseph  Barker,  written  hy  him- 
self (London :  Hodder  and  Stoughton,  1880),  who  was  a  Methodist, 
Quaker,  Unitarian,  and  all  but  an  atheist  in  turn,  and  finally  re- 
turned to  Christianity.  Of  America  he  says  (p.  336) : — "  Often 
when  I  came  to  be  acquainted  with  the  men  who  invited  me  to 
lecture  [in  America],  I  was  ashamed  to  be  seen  standing  with  them 
in  the  streets ;  and  I  shrank  from  the  touch  of  their  hand  as  from 

pollution In  England,  where  I  expected  on  my  return  home 

to  find  unbelievers  better,  I  found  them  worse.     I  supposed  that 

the  Secularists  thought  as  I  did  with  regard  to  virtue And 

when  at  length  I  was  convinced  past  doubt  of  my  mistake,  the 
effect  was  terribly  painful.  But  it  was  salutary."  He  was  him- 
self an  instance  of  an  infidel  who  preserved  his  love  of  right  con- 
duct and  domestic  purity,  and  this  in  the  end  restored  him  to 
Christ,  but  several  incidents  in  his  account  of  himself  shew  clearly 
enough  that  in  many  of  the  more  delicate  virtues  his  character 
degenerated  as  he  became  sceptical. 


24  Introduction.  [Lect. 

acknowledge  when  they  occur  ;  and,  if  one  case  only 
of  infidelity  from  such  a  cause  is  known  to  us, 
surely  we  have  a  warning  from  God,  which  it  were 
in  the  highest  degree  foolish  and  criminal  to  dis- 
regard. But,  besides  these  so-called  "moral"  fail- 
ures, there  are  sins  attaching  to  the  intellect,  which 
are  as  essentially  and  really  acts  and  states  of  "  im- 
morality" as  the  grossest  outbreaks  of  vice.  Will 
you  pardon  me  if  I  point  out  one  which  seems  the 
special  canker  of  societies  like  our  own  ?  Many  are 
the  faults  which  disguise  themselves  as  a  love  of 
truth,  but  perhaps  none  is  more  frequent  than  a  self- 
ish intellectual  indolence.  We  live  amongst  men 
devoted  to  study,  whether  for  their  own  sake  or  as 
teachers  of  others,  many  of  whom  pass  their  lives  in 
a  somewhat  narrow  round  of  philosophy  or  history, 
or  law  or  language,  or  natural  science  or  mathema- 
tics, or  a  mixture  of  some  of  these.  This  is  the  es- 
sence of  a  University,  that  it  should  contain  experts 
and  students  specially  devoted  to  these  subjects,  who 
can  be  referred  to  as  authorities  in  their  particular 
spheres:  and  no  one  who  has  imagination  or  expe- 
rience enough  to  give  him  any  sense  of  the  value  of 
such  stores  of  knowledge,  lying  close  together  as  in 
a  vast  treasure  -  house,  can  do  anything  but  thank 
God  for  the  blessings  we  enjoy  in  this  place,  and 
pray  that  He  may  increase  them  tenfold  to  our  pos- 
terity. But  this  grand  artificial  society  has  its  pecu- 
liar temptations,  as  all  artificial  societies  have ;  and 
one  of  the  strongest,  I  venture  to  repeat,  is  a  refined 
and  selfish  indolence,  disguising  itself  as  a  love  of 
truth,  or  at  least  of  knowledge.     For,  without  doubt, 


I.]       Intellectual  indolence.     Neglect  of  jprayer.         15 

one  of  the  first  conditions  to  success  in  study  is  the 
power  of  abstraction  and  attention,  the  concentration 
of  the  intellect  on  a  given  area,  and  the  pursuit  of 
the  action  of  certain  isolated  principles  belonging  to 
the  science  or  art  which  is  being  studied.  By  this 
we  see  that  a  direct  premium  is  offered  to  one-sided- 
ness,  if  a  man  will  content  himself  with  a  temporary 
success.  Clearness,  method,  systematic  power,  the 
ability  to  strike  the  imagination  and  impress  the 
memory  of  one's  pupils,  all  these  things  are  gained 
by  the  adoption  of  a  few  simple  principles,  and  the 
excision  of  all  reference  to  debateable  or  inconsistent 
facts.  To  men  consciously  or  unconsciously  under 
the  influence  of  these  motives,  revelation  is  felt  as 
an  awkward  disturbing  force,  rather  than  as  the 
most  helpful  energy  of  their  lives . 

It  appears  to  them  as  coming  in  from  outside  to 
dissipate  and  distract  their  intellectual  vigour,  which 
might  otherwise  be  spent  on  perfecting  themselves 
and  others  in  some  definite  line  of  enquiry.  It  is  seen 
to  involve  those  who  accept  it  in  so  many  troubles 
and  disputes;  it  places  life  so  much  more  at  the 
mercy  of  alien  intruders,  it  encumbers  it  with  so 
many  engagements.  Even  the  time  spent  in  public 
or  private  prayer  is  grudged.  "  Why,"  it  is  urged, 
"  should  I  go  to  college  chapel,  when  I  do  not  really 
believe  more  than  half  that  I  hear  and  say  there  ? 
I  had  better  make  up  some  prayers  of  my  own,  such 
as  exactly  suit  my  religious  position."  But  where 
are  these  prayers,  after  half-a-year's  absence  from  col- 
lege chapel  ?  Gone  with  the  other  half  of  the  belief, 
I  fear,  in  too  many  cases ;  or  perhaps  suspended  till 


16  Introduction.  [Lect. 

God  in  His  mercy  send  sickness  or  sorrow  to  touch 
the  heart  and  lift  the  veil  of  customary  indifference. 
In  the  meantime,  the  stall  in  chapel  and  the  lowly  pos- 
ture of  devotion  is  exchanged  for  the  seclusion  of  the 
study,  or  self-directed  meditation  at  the  fireside.  The 
intellectual  exercise  of  thinking  about  God  takes  the 
place  of  the  humble  attitude  of  listening  to  His  word, 
and  pouring  out  the  soul  in  prayer,  and  worshipping 
before  the  altar.  The  sweet  charities  and  sympathies, 
the  mysterious  inspirations  which  flow  from  the  ga- 
therings of  the  faithful  in  the  presence  of  God,  the 
tenderness  and  confidence  of  sons,  are  exchanged  for 
selfish  isolation.  The  burning  love  of  souls,  the  zeal 
which  once  glowed  for  spreading  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  of  goodness  throughout  the  world,  gradually  sink 
to  a  cold  and  ashy  cynicism.  Instead  of  a  duty  to 
God  and  men,  church-going  is  reduced,  by  the  men 
of  whom  we  speak,  to  a  rare  compliment  paid  to  a 
preacher  whom  they  wish  to  study,  in  the  faint  hope 
that  he  will  kindle  some  sense  of  languid  admiration. 
Who  can  wonder  that  such  perverse  conduct  bears 
its  fruit  in  a  withered,  discontented  heart,  and  a 
stunted  and  one-sided  intellect  ?  As  time  goes  on, 
the  exercise  of  thinking  about  God  becomes  on  their 
part  an  act  of  grace  and  patronage,  and  then  a  dry 
and  spiritless  formality.  At  last,  too  often,  His  very 
existence  as  a  personal  Being  comes  to  be  regarded 
as  a  speculation,  the  decision  of  which  has  but  little 
interest  for  the  scientific  or  literary  mind,  occupied 
steadily  in  such  matters  as  are  fairly  within  its  grasp 
and  measure. 

Yery  nearly   akin   to   this  intellectual   indolence 


I.]  Sin  of  intellectual  coldness.  17 

is  the  cool,  dispassionate  candour  on  which  some 
sceptics,  plume  themselves,  as  if  it  were  the  best 
method  of  attaining  religious  truth.  They  seem  to 
forget  that  revelation  comes  to  them,  if  it  comes  at 
all,  from  above,  not  from  below,  and  from  a  Power 
in  whose  presence  fear  is  a  duty.  If  it  exist  at  all, 
which  is  the  question  before  them,  it  is  a  gift  for 
which  they  ought  to  be  thankful,  not  a  suppliant 
upon  their  charity  I  They  tell  us  that  it  is  their 
first  duty  to  preserve  their  minds  from  prejudice  in 
favour  of  revelation ;  that  they  are  responsible  for  the 
legal  purity  and  judicial  impartiality  of  their  reason, 
which  is  to  them  the  sole  arbiter  of  truth.  And  so 
they  exclude  all  hope  of  finding  revelation,  lest  it 
should  delude  them  into  credulity,  and  all  fear  of 
losing  it,  lest  they  should  be  frightened  into  super- 
stition. The  fact  is,  that  in  so  jealously  guarding 
the  supremacy  of  reason,  they  are  really  wronging 
what  they  profess  to  honour,  they  unduly  limit  the 
field  of  which  it  ought  to  take  cognizance,  and  the 
position  it  ought  to  occupy.  True,  as  all  wise  apo- 
logists of  all  ages  remind  us,  "Eeason  is  a  divine 
reality:  and  God  who  purposed,  disposed  and  or- 
dered nothing  without  Eeason,  wills  that'  all  things 
should   be   treated   and  considered  with   Eeason  ^" 

'  Cp.  some  excellent  remarks  on  this  topic  in  Newman's  Gram- 
mar of  Assent  (pp.  420,  421,  London,  1870),  criticizing  Paley's 
method.  See  also  Pascal,  Pensees,  part  2,  article  6,  %  5  (p.  188, 
Didot,  1863),  on  the  low  idea  of  conversion  which  is  entertained 
by  many  sceptics. 

^  TertuUian,  de  panitentia,  §  1,  which  thus  begins: — "  P»ni- 
tentiam  hoc  genus  hominum,  quod  et  ipsi  retro  fuimus,  ceeci  sine 
domini  lumine,  natura  tenus  noiunt  passionem  animi  quandam 
C 


18  Introduction.  [Lect. 

"Eeason  is  the  only  faculty  we  have  wherewith  to 
judge  concerning  anything,  even  Eevelation  itself^." 
This  is  true,  however,  just  because,  and  so  far  as, 
our  reason  is  a  guide  of  our  life  ever  present  with 
us,  not  a  judge  deciding  in  a  court  outside  us.  If 
it  is  to  decide  aright,  it  must  take  into  account  all 
the  elements  of  our  complex  life,  it  must  measure 
and  balance  all  the  forces  that  tend  to  preserve  and 
extend  our  powers  of  will  and  feeling,  as  well  as 
those  which  form  our  purely  intellectual  conclusions. 
Eight  reason  cannot  be  guardian  only  of  the  interests 
of  one  faculty  or  portion  of  the  human  soul,  but  is 
the  director  of  the  whole,  and  it  must  take  cog- 
nizance likewise  of  the  whole  evidence  offered  by 
human  nature.  Thus  the  warm  personal  love  felt  by 
the  soul  to  its  Saviour  is  evidence  offered  not  by  the 
intelligence,  but  by  the  heart.  The  impression  of 
a  divine  voice  speaking  in  a  way  which  commands 
obedience  in  the  pages  of  Holy  Scripture,  is  evidence 
again  offered,  not  so  much  by  the  intelligence  as  by 
the  will  and  the  conscience.  But  reason  cannot,  dare 
not,  reject  a  consideration  of  either.    Eight  reason  on 

esse  quoe  veniat  de  offensa  sententite  peioris.  Ceterum  a  ration c 
eius  tantum  absunt,  (quantum  ab  ipso  rationis  auctore.  Quippe 
res  Dei  ratio  ;  quia  Deus  omnium  conditor,  nihil  non  ratione  pro- 
vidit,  disposuit,  ordinavit,  nihil  non  ratione  tractari  intellegique 
voluit." 

^  Butler,  Analogy,  part  ii.  chap.  3.  Cp.  Isaac  Barrow,  Ser- 
mon 2,  Of  Faith  (vol.  ii.  pp.  21—23,  cd.  1683),  and  Sermon  13, 
Of  the  Christian  Beligion  (p.  189),  and  my  father's  Letters  to 
M.  Gondon,  ed.  2,  pp.  49  following.  Origen  has  sometimes  been 
misrepresented  as  if  he  admitted  Celsus'  taunt  that  Christians  be- 
lieve on  mere  faith,  without  examination.  He  really  treats  it  as 
a  calummj  (c.  Celsum,  i.  9,  13;  iii.  50). 


!•]  True  2'>osition  of  Reason.  19 

the  contrary  says,  If  there  is  a  revelation  it  will  touch 
the  heart,  it  will  speak  to  the  conscience  in  just  such 
a  way  as  the  Gospel  does;  and,  so  far,  I  have  the 
evidence  I  am  bound  to  expect.  Unless  revelation 
did  produce  these  effects,  it  would  be  irrational  to 
accept  it. 

If  reason,  however,  restricts  itself  to  merely  intel- 
lectual evidence,  the  case  of  a  man  like  the  late  John 
Stuart  Mill,  according  to  his  own  witness,  shews  how 
inevitable  is  the  collapse  ^\  Other  faculties  will  have 
their  rights  somehow  or  other,  or  the  man  will  perish. 
And  even  in  the  interests  of  pure  intelligence,  who 
can  say  that  hope  and  fear,  love  and  joy,  are  foes  to 
be  excluded  ?  Did  not  hope  enable  Columbus  to  find 
America  ?  Do  not  affection  and  inclination,  as  well 
as  the  expectation  of  success,  play  a  real  part  in  all 
scientific  discovery  ?  Do  not  feeling  and  taste  give 
insight  into  character  and  argument  ?  Does  not  ex- 
perience shew  us  daily  that  only  he  who  loves  can 
understand  the  language  of  love "  ?     Am  I  then  to 

^"  See  his  Autobiography,  chap,  v.,  "A  crisis  in  my  mental  his- 
tory,"    He  quotes  two  lines  of  Coleridge  (p.  140)  as  a  true  de- 
scription of  what  he  felt  in  his  intense  dejection  : — 
"  Work  without  hope  draws  nectar  in  a  sieve, 
And  hope  without  an  object  cannot  live." 
Unfortunately,   the  religion   to    which   he   turned   as   an   object 
was  not  the  highest— a  mere  human  affection,   however  tender. 
See  p.  251,  written  shortly  after  the  death  of  his  Avife:— ''Her 
memory  is  to  me  a  religion,  and  her  approbation  the  standard  by 
which,  summing  up  as  it  does  all  worthiness,  I  endeavour  to  regu- 
late my  life." 

"  St.  Bernard.     Cp.  Pascal,  Pensees,  part  1,  art.  3  (pp.  30,  31, 
Didot,  1863),  "  qu'il  faut  aimer  (les  choses  divines)  pour  les  con- 
naitre,"  and  art.  6,  §  13  (p.  64)  on  the  will  as  an  organ  of  belief. 
See  also  the  last  pages  of  Mozley's  Bampton  Lectures. 
C2 


20  Introduction.  [Lect. 

drive  away  all  my  best  thoughts,  all  the  quickening 
impulses  of  spiritual  life,  all  my  fears  of  losing  man's 
highest  good,  and  even  turn  against  them  and  hate 
them  as  misleading  falsities,  because  they  do  not 
happen  to  be  arguments  of  a  peculiar  type,  reducible 
to  a  certain  form  of  syllogism  ?  Am  I  to  call  this 
a  reasonable  state  of  mind  ?  No,  rather  I  should  be 
utterly  unreasonable  if  I  did  so.  Surely  it  is  much 
wiser  to  hold  with  the  most  profound  of  living 
poets  ^^, — 

"  I  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  God  in  Christ 
Accepted  by  thy  reason,  solves  for  thee 
All  questions  in  the  earth  and  out  of  it, 
And  has  so  far  advanced  thee  to  be  wise. 
Wouldst  thou  unprove  this  to  re-prove  the  proved  ? 
In  life's  mere  minute,  with  power  to  use  that  proof. 
Leave  knowledge  and  revert  to  how  it  sprung  ? 
Thou  hast  it ;  use  it,  and  forthwith,  or  die. 
For  this  I  say  is  death,  and  the  sole  death. 
When  a  man's  loss  comes  to  him  from  his  gain, 
Darkness  from  light,  from  knowledge  ignorance, 
And  lack  of  love  from  love  made  manifest." 

This  intellectual  coldness  seems,  in  fact,  to  be  as 
sinful  as  intellectual  indolence.  Yet  some  people 
tacitly  make  the  assumption  that  the  intellect  is  out- 
side morality ;  that  you  have  but  to  follow  your  own 
bias  and  instinct  in  its  sphere,  and  to  disregard  the 
consequences.  This  is,  indeed,  a  very  narrow  system 
of  ethics.     Let  us  suppose  a  man  to  receive  a  letter 

^"^  R.  Browning,  A  Death  in  the  Desert ;  a  wonderful  ideal  de- 
scription of  the  last  hours  of  St.  John,  in  which  he  is  supposed 
to  review  his  life,  and  to  meet  possible  future  objections  to  his 
Gospel :  Poetical  "Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  127  (Lond.,  1870),  or  Selec- 
tions, Second  Series,  pp.  316,  317,  (Lond.,  1880): 


L]         ^^  Lack  of  love  from  love  made  manifest.''''         21 

purporting  to  come  from  his  father,  and  containing 
a  promise  of  something  which  he  much  desired, 
which  would  be  a  great  comfort  to  him  to  have, 
and  which  the  father  was  specially  able  to  bestow. 
What  should  we  say  of  such  a  man,  if  he  submitted 
this  letter  to  a  p#ely  intellectual  test,  and  decided 
that  the  very  suitability  of  the  promise  to  his  wants 
and  wishes  was  a  reason  for  doubting,  if  not  reject- 
ing it  ?  We  should  call  him  unfilial  and  brutal,  as 
well  as  stupid  ^^  And  yet  this  is  what  these  coldly - 
intellectual  persons  say  with  regard  to  what  we  tell 
them  of  their  heavenly  Father's  message.  In  them 
''lack  of  love"  comes  "from  love  made  manifest." 

There  are  other  sins  besides  these,  to  which  the 
intellect  is  liable,  such  as  recklessness,  pride,  and 
avarice,  all  of  which  may  be  disguised  as  love  of 
truth.  Thus  there  is  a  mere  taste  for  adventure  in 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  which  is  akin  to  the  com- 
mon passion  for  hunting  and  mountaineering,  where 
the  object  is  not  the  result  obtained,  but  the  lively 
agitation  of  spirits  which  is  created  by  the  act  itself. 

^^  Pascal  says  on  this  point,  with  righteous  indigna,tion  {Pensees, 
part  2,  art.  2,  (p.  152)  :— "  Cette  negligence  en  une  affaire  ou 
il  s'agit  d'eux-memes,  de  leur  eternite,  de  leur  tout,  m'irrite  plus 
qu'elle  ne  m'attendrit ;  elle  m'elonne  et  m'epouvante ;  c'est  un 
monstre  pour  moi."  And  further  on  (p.  158)  : — "  Rien  ne  marque 
davantage  une  extreme  bassesse  de  cceur  que  de  ne  pas  souhaiter 
la  verite  des  promesses  eternelles ;  rien  n'est  plus  lache  que  de 
fair  le  brave  contre  Dieu,"  &c.  It  is  probable  that  in  all  ages 
of  the  world  a  certain  connection  between  infidelity  and  this  "  bas- 
sesse de  cceur,"  of  which  Pascal  speaks,  has  been  observable.  On 
the  duty  of  hope  and  of  noble  wishes,  cp.  the  fine  passages  of 
Mozley's  University  Sermons  on  Eternal  Life  (pp.  75  foil.)  and 
The  Strength  of  Wishes  (pp.  250  foU.,  first  ed.,  1876), 


22  Introduction.  [Lect. 

• 

The  end  is  in  the  means,  and  nothing  beyond.  This 
love  of  adventure  lends  a  certain  air  of  grace  and  no- 
bility to  a  man ;  it  makes  him  brave  weariness,  phy- 
sical pain  and  danger,  with  a  light  heart,  because  he 
sets  them  against  the  power  of  excitement  which  fills 
and  masters  him,  and  carries  him  ^side  himself.  So 
it  is  in  those  who  value  the  search  after  truth,  more 
than  truth  itself.  They  point,  perhaps,  to  the  pains 
they  undergo  as  a  justification  of  their  integrity,  and 
ask  us,  it  may  be,  to  sympathize  with  them  in  their 
failures.  But  we  are  tempted  to  reply,  "  You  have 
obtained  all  that  you  desired.  You  do  not  really 
care  for  truth.  You  do  not  believe  in  the  power  of 
attaining  it.  All  that  you  have  aimed  at  was  a  re- 
fined form  of  intellectual  excitement  and  amusement. 
In  so  doing  you  are  doubly  guilty,  both  in  cheat- 
ing yourself  of  success,  which  might  have  been  yours 
if  you  had  sought  the  truth,  not  its  shadow ;  and  in 
deluding  your  neighbours,  who  have  judged  you 
really  in  earnest,  when  you  were  only  aiming  at 
a  vain  and  selfish  pleasure." 

Again,  that  the  intellect  is  liable  to  pride  is,  of 
course,  notorious ;  and  was,  I  suppose,  a  fact  as  much 
recognized  by  the  better  heathens  as  by  ourselves. 
In  the  search  after  truth,  that  is  to  say,  the  pride 
of  intelligence  invests  what  it  obtains  with  a  kind 
of  halo  of  interest  as  its  own  property ;  just  as  men, 
proud  in  this  world,  get  to  respect  what  lies  about 
them,  because  of  its  nearness  to  the  glories  that  flow 
from  their  own  persons.  The  proud  man  seems  to 
himself  a  sort  of  centre  of  light  and  dignity,  from 
which  an  effluence  pours  forth  upon  all  which  he 


I.]        Intellectual  recklessness ^  iwide  and  avarice.       23 

• 

touches,  or  at  least  gathers  to  himself;  and  this  senti- 
ment is  hardly  less  common  in  the  intellectual  than 
in  the  secular  sphere  of  life.  This  fault,  in  another 
type  of  character,  becomes  rather  a  species  of  avarice. 
Truth  is  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  property,  of  which 
so  much  may  be  0tained  by  diligent  and  acquisitive 
habits  ^^,  and  as  a  property  which  lends  glory  to  its 
possessor,  just  as  acquired  capital  does  honour  to  the 
successful  merchant.  But  in  either  case  truth  is  re- 
garded as  valuable,  chiefly  because  of  its  relation  to 
the  man,  not  because  of  its  objective  worth  and  dig- 
nity. And  this  is  the  great  difference  between  the 
selfish  and  the  Christian  pursuit  of  truth.  We  do 
not  look  for  a  mere  discovery,  an  ornament,  a  trea- 
sure, but  an  objective  personality  outside  us  and  above 
us,  to  which  we  bow  in  reverent  adoration ;  a  light 
which  is  both  liberty  and  law ;  a  power  which  finds 
and  chooses  us,  and  is  not  found  and  chosen  by  us ; 
a  moulding  and  informing  presence,  which  is  none 
other  than  the  might  of  Christ  our  Lord. 

In  some  such  way,  then,  as  this  we  may  point  out 

"  These  topics  are  treated  with  great  force  by  Dr.  Mozley,  in  his 
interesting  review  oi  Blanco  White's  AutoUograpTiy ;  Essays,  vol.  ii. 
cp,  especially  p.  146  : — "  Here  is  the  point.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
love  of  truth,  especially  in  fallen  man,  is  a  corrupted  affection,  just 
as  natural  love  is.  It  betrays  the  selfish  element.  His  mind  annexes 
truth  to  itself,  and  not  itself  to  truth.  It  considers  truth  as  a  kind 
of  property ;  it  wants  the  pride  of  making  it  its  own ;  it  treats  it 
as  an  article  of  mental  success ;  it  does  not  reverence  truth  as  an 
object,  but  appropriates  it  as  a  thing;  it  loves  it  as  its  own  crea- 
tion, and  as  the  reflection  of  itself  and  its  labours.  The  merchant 
sees  himself  in  his  capital,  the  parent  in  his  child ;  every  one  has 
the  image  of  himself  in  the  shape  of  some  issue  from  himself;  and 
there  is  a  philosophy  which  sees  such  an  issue  in  truth,  and  makes 
it,  in  its  sphere,  the  very  embodiment  of  that  of  which  truth  di- 
vine is  the  extinction — the  principle  of  self." 


24  Introduction.  [Lect. 

» 

whereabouts  may  probably  be  found  the  answer  to 
the  question,  "  How  can  the  unbelief  of  really  in- 
telligent men  be  sinful  ?  " 

This  may  be  of  some  help  to  the  wavering.  But 
they  require  also  a  positive  support,  and  it  has  usually 
been  held  to  be  the  function  of  Lec^res  such  as  these 
to  give  that  help  in  the  form  demanded  by  the  neces- 
sities of  the  day.  To  a  specific  portion  of  that  task 
I  desire,  with  God's  blessing,  to  address  myself;  but 
first  I  would  remind  you,  in  few  words,  of  that  gene- 
ral and  familiar  truth  which  is  the  foundation  of  all 
such  undertakings. 

We  cannot  look  on  human  life  as  anything  else 
than  a  state  of  probation,  that  is  to  say,  a  state  in 
which  we  are  tried  and  strengthened  by  use  and  ex- 
ercise of  the  less,  before  we  are  put  in  possession  of 
the  more  ^^.  Faith,  not  compulsion,  is  the  true  means 
of  development  suitable  to  a  moral  being.  In  this 
way,  and  in  no  other  that  we  can  conceive  possible, 
are  the  powers  of  our  nature  brought  to  their  full- 
est maturity.  In  this  way,  both  the  more  passive 
qualities  of  trustfulness  and  trustworthiness,  and 
the  more  active  energies  of  the  will,  are  educated 
in  the  service  of  God.  In  our  relations  with  God, 
as  well  as  in  our  relations  to  one  another,  we  are 
men,  not  machines ;  and  as  long  as  faith  and  hope, 
and  a  reliance  upon  the  unseen  and  unknown,  have 
their  place  in  social  intercourse,  so  long  must  they 
have  a  place,  and  a  foremost  place,  in  religion  ^^ 

"  Cp.  Butler's  Analogy,  part  i.  chaps,  iv.  and  v.,  on  "A  State  of 
Probation,"  and  "  Moral  Discipline." 

^®  For  a  fuller  statement  of  this  topic,  nothing  can  be  better  than 
Mr.  Wace's  very  forcible  paper  in  reply  to  Prof.  Clifford's  Ethics 


I.]  Faith  helongs  to  a  state  of  probation.  25 

You  will  pardon  me  for  stating  a  truth,  I  had 
almost  said  a  truism,  which  has  so  often  been  urged 
from  this  place,  and  which  so  many  able  apologists  have 
handled  elsewhere,  age  after  age.  But  simple  as  it 
is,  it  is  daily  in  danger  of  being  forgotten.  It  is  one 
of  those  first  principles  which  the  indolence  and 
negligence  of  mankind  are  ever  ready  to  let  drop 
out  of  sight.  It  is  so  much  easier  to  be  querulous 
because  you  have  not  received  off-hand  a  complete 
and  absolute  demonstration,  than  to  pursue  a  long 
course  of  arguments,  in  which  a  number  of  differ- 
ent lines  converge  upon  a  given  point,  and  in  which 
the  careful  judgment  of  a  variety  of  moral  questions 
is  involved. 

To  recall  this  primary  fact  to  mind  is  the  first  duty 
of  the  Christian  apologist.  Let  him  force  it  clearly 
into  the  understanding  of  the  opponent  or  doubter 
with  whom  he  is  arguing,  and  then  he  will  have  some 
chance  of  making  an  impression  by  means  of  the  par- 
ticular arguments  which  ought  to  follow.  These,  as 
we  are  all  aware,  are  of  two  kinds,  external  and  in- 
ternal; the  first  appealing  to  the  authority  of  wit- 
nesses to  facts  outside  us,  the  second  shewing  the 
intrinsic  or  inward  reasonableness  of  the  Christian 
revelation.  Both  of  these  methods  of  argument  are 
necessary,  and  Oxford  perhaps  needs  the  first  quite 
as  much  as  the  second.     But  on  the  present  occasion 

of  Belief,  read  before  the  Victoria  Institute,  and  reprinted  as 
note  6  to  his  Bampton  Lectures,  pp.  242 — 258.  The  germ  of 
this  argument  is  in  Origen  contra  Celsum,  i.  11.  Cp.  also  S.  Ire- 
nseus  adv.  hcereses,  ii.  28,  §  3,  who  extends  the  offices  of  faith  and 
hope  (as  well  as  love)  to  another  world,  that  God  may  be  always 
our  teacher,  and  we  may  be  always  waiting  upon  His  bounty. 


26  Introduction.  [Lect. 

I  shall  beg  your  attention  to  a  portion  rather  of  the 
internal  evidence,  which  I  propose  to  treat  from  a 
special  point  of  view.  I  need  scarcely  say  to  those 
about  me  at  this  moment  what  motives  induce  this 
choice  of  subject.  There  are  times  of  life  to  some  men 
(with  which  most  of  us  here  are  very  familiar)  when 
the  intellect  is  in  a  state  of  passionate  activity,  when 
it  throws  itself  upon  the  world  with  instinctive  self- 
assertion,  and  desires  to  create,  out  of  the  mass  of 
fragments  which  seem  to  lie  about  it,  an  ideal  truth 
which  shall  be  all  its  own.  In  times  like  these,  the 
voice  of  authority  has  a  distant,  unmeaning  sound; 
its  light  for  the  time  is  eclipsed,  its  assertions  merely 
irritate.  The  most  conclusive  external  proofs  are 
powerless ;  and  the  whole  fabric  of  past  experience 
seems  on  the  point  of  crumbling  into  dust. 

"What  are  we  Christian  teachers  to  do  in  these  cri- 
tical moments  ?  Are  we  simply  to  stand  apart,  till 
weariness  or  disappointment  suggest  a  return  to  the 
old  paths?  May  we  not  do  more,  by  placing  our- 
selves side  by  side  with  these  eager  strivings  ?  "We 
shall  at  least  gain  the  influence  which  is  the  prero- 
gative of  sympathy,  and  the  respect  which  is  given 
to  those  who  are  thorough  believers  in  the  validity 
of  their  message.  Our  attempt  to  construct  a  Chris- 
tian philosophy  of  religion  may  not  be,  in  any  sense, 
a  final  one ;  yet,  by  God's  grace,  it  may  be  a  bridge, 
for  some  at  least,  over  that  dangerous  gulf  in  which 
so  many  barks  have  gone  down,  which  set  forth  in 
the  morning  with  sunlit  sails,  a  passage  over  those 
dark  waters  in  which  so  many  strong  swimmers  have 
lost  their  lives. 


I.]         Unitfj  of  human  nature  and  of  religion.  27 

I  desire,  then,  to  be  permitted  to  hold  up  to  such 
seekers-  after  God  the  beautiful  form  of  Christianity 
as  the  one  normal  or  standard  religion  of  the  human 
race.  I  assume,  with  them,  that  religion  is  not  only 
possible,  but  is  the  great  end  for  which  mankind 
were  created;  that  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  with 
David,  that  all  nations  whom  God  has  made  will  be 
brought  to  worship  Him  together  and  to  glorify  His 
name.  I  cannot  suppose  that  any  of  us,  at  least  in 
our  better  moments,  will  be  behind  the  Platonist  and 
the  Stoic  in  their  aspirations  after  one  law  and  one 
doctrine  ^''.  I  address  myself,  therefore,  to  those  who 
feel  the  need  of  religion,  and  who  believe  in  the  es- 
sential unity  of  religion,  but  who  desire  to  be  Chris- 
tians by  conviction,  and  with  a  reasonable  grasp  of 
the  intrinsic  pre-eminence  of  the  Church's  faith. 
Further,  and  more  particularly,  I  address  those  who 
feel  with  myself  that  they  are  now  called  upon 
to  consider  their  faith  in  the  new  light  which  is 
thrown  upon  it  by  the  simultaneous  researches  into 
all  the  faiths,  new  and  old,  that  claim  the  alle- 
giance of  mankind.  I  speak  to  those  who  feel  that 
the  old  adage, —  , 

"  Homo  sum :  nihil  humani  a  me  alienum  puto," 

"  On  the  heathen  sentiment  as  to  the  unity  of  belief,  see  Maxi- 
mus  Tp'ius,  dissert.  17,  ch.  4  and  5,  where  he  imagines  a  sort  of 
congress  of  nations  voting  unanimously  on  religion ;  Plutarch,  de 
fortuna  Alexandri,  6,  on  the  Stoic  polity  (Wytt.,  vol.  2,  p.  349), 
de  Iside  et  Osiride,  67  (vol.  2,  p.  546) ;  Numenius  ap.  Euseb., 
prcBp.  Evang.,  ix.  7;  Celsus  ap.  Origen.,  c,  Celsiim,  i.  14,  vi.  80. 
All  these  writers,  however,  lived  after  the  Gospel  had  spread 
belief  in  the  unity  of  the  human  race  and  of  religion.  Cp.  Th. 
Keim,  Celsus  TFahres  Wort,  p.  213  (Zurich,  1873). 


28  Introduction.  [Lect. 

acquires  daily  fresh  force  from  the  multitudinous 
facts  which  pour  in  on  every  side  to  witness  that 
man  is  everywhere  the  brother  and  like  of  man. 

Consider  for  a  moment  what  a  marvellous  know- 
ledge we  now  possess  in  this  department.  In  the 
first  place,  there  is  now  no  race  upon  the  globe  of 
anything  like  even  third-rate  importance  which  is 
unvisited  and  undescribed;  there  is  none  whatever, 
we  may  feel  perfectly  sure,  which,  when  visited,  will 
be  very  dissimilar  to  those  already  within  our  view. 
Everywhere,  within  certain  limits,  the  same  religious 
and  moral  nature  appears,  even  when  it  is  overlaid 
and  degraded,  and  all  but  obliterated.  Even  in  mi- 
nute details  of  mythology  and  custom,  we  find  an 
extraordinary  unanimity  of  ideas  between  the  re- 
motest tribes.  The  dwellers  in  distant  corners,  hunted 
and  trodden  down  by  stronger  races,  the  very  by- 
words of  humanity — the  Bushmen,  the  Andamans, 
the  Veddahs,  the  Australians,  the  Fuegians,  the  Bo- 
tocudes,  the  Eskimo  ^^,  and  if  there  be  any  lower  than 
these — when  approached  with  sympathy  and  insight, 

^^  E.g.  the  Bushmeii  and  the  Eskimo  are  said  to  be  the  races 
which  have  the  greatest  natural  capacity  of  forming  mental  im- 
ages of  things  they  have  seen,  and  therefore  of  making  drawings, 
maps,  &c.  The  Christianisation  of  the  Fuegians  is  one  of  tlie 
greatest  triumphs  of  modern  missions  in  an  apparently  hopeless 
field.  Mr.  Darwin,  it  is  said,  thought  it  impossible,  but  afterwards 
became  a  contributor  to  the  funds  of  the  mission.  The  Queen  re- 
cently sent  a  token  of  her  approval  to  those  natives  who  were 
formerly  wreckers,  but  on  a  late  occasion  humanely  succoured 
some  English  sailors  cast  upon  their  inhospitable  shore,  and  took 
care  of  their  property  after  their  death.  (Speech  of  Rev.  R,  J, 
Simpson  before  Oxford  Missionary  Association  of  Graduates, 
Jan.  30,  1880). 


I.]  Manifold  advance  of  the  stiidij  of  Human  Nature.  29 

shew  themselves  truly  human  types,  with  some  qua- 
lities defective  or  imperfect,  but  with  others  more 
than  usually  vigorous,  and  all,  at  any  rate,  with  a 
personality  and  a  creative  power  which  proves  them 
all  equally  formed  in  the  image  of  God  ^^. 

'®  On  this  topic  it  is  sufficient  to  cite  three  well-known  wit- 
nesses, Dr.  Theodor  "Waitz,  Dr.  James  Cowles  Prichard,  and  Pro- 
fessor A.  de  Quatrefages  of  Paris.  The  former  thus  sums  up 
the  discussion  which  is  the  principal  subject  of  the  first  volume 
of  his  very  valuable  Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker  (Eng.  tr., 
p.  327,  Lond.,  1863): — *'0n  casting  a  retrospective  glance  at  the 
numerous  facts  and  the  various  points  of  view  from  which  we  have 
endeavoured  to  elucidate  the  main  question,  we  are  irresistibly  led 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  are  no  specific  differences  among  man- 
kind with  regard  to  their  psychical  life.  The  great  difference  in 
civilization  amongst  peoples  of  the  same  stock,  testifies  that  the 
degree  of  civilization  does  not  chiefly  depend  on  organization  or 
mental  endowment." 

Dr.  Prichard  thus  concludes  his  Natural  History  of  Man  (vol.  ii. 
pp.  713,  714,  ed.  Norris,  Lond.,  1855) : — "  We  contemplate  among 
all  the  diversified  tribes  who  are  endowed  with  reason  and  speech, 
the  same  internal  feelings,  appetences,  aversions  ;  the  same  inward 
convictions,  the  same  sentiments  of  subjection  to  invisible  powers, 
and,  more  or  less  fully  developed,  of  accountableness  or  responsi- 
bility to  unseen  avengers  of  wrong  and  agents  of  retributive  jus- 
tice, from  whose  tribunal  men  cannot  even  by  death  escape.  "We 
find  everywhere  the  same  susceptibility,  though  not  always  in  the 
same  degree  of  forwardness  or  ripeness  of  improvement,  of  admit- 
ting the  cultivation  of  these  universal  endowments,  of  opening  the 
eyes  of  the  mind  to  the  more  clear  and  luminous  views  which 
Christianity  unfolds,  of  becoming  moulded  to  the  institutions  of 
religion  and  of  civilized  life :  in  a  word,  the  same  inward  and 
mental  nature  is  to  be  recognized  in  all  races  of  men.  When  we 
compare  this  fact  with  the  observations  which  have  been  hereto- 
fore fully  established  as  to  the  specific  instincts  and  separate  psy- 
chical endowments  of  all  the  distinct  tribes  of  sentient  beings  in 
the  universe,  we  are  enabled  to  draw  confidently  the  conclusion 
that  all  human  races  are  of  one  species  and  one  family." 

M.  de  Quatrefages  says  (at  the  end  of  book  i.  of  his  treatise  on 


30  Introduction.  [Lect. 

And  while  we  have  this  flood  of  light  thrown  upon 
the  present  state  of  the  human  family,  we  have  yet 
more  marvellous  discoveries  in  the  ancient  histories 
of  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  and  other  great  na- 
tions, carrying  us  back  two  or  even  three  thousand 
years  before  the  birth  of  Christ '°.  And  just  at  the 
same  moment  we  have  unbiassed  and  authentic  ac- 
counts of  the  great  religions  of  the  East,  long  im- 
fectly  known  to  us,  of  Persia,  India,  and  China ;  en- 
abling us  to  reach  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  patient 
millions  of  Eastern  Asia,  and  to  know  their  springs 
of  motive  and  action  better  even,  it  may  be,  than 
they  know  themselves  ^^ 

The  Human  Species,  pp.  87,  88,  London,  1879) :— "  In  every  case 
crossiLgs  between  human  groups  exhibit  the  phenomena  charac- 
teristic of  mongrels,  and  never  those  of  hybrids. 

"  Therefore  these  human  groups,  however  different  they  may 
be,  or  appear  to  be,  are  only  races  of  one  and  the  same  species,  and 
not  distinct  species. 

"  Therefore,  there  is  but  one  human  species,  taking  this  term 
species  in  the  acceptation  employed  when  speaking  of  animals 
and  plants." 

He  also  says,  speaking  generally,  that  "  what  science  may  affirm 
is  that  from  all  appearances  each  species  has  had,  as  point  of  de- 
parture, a  single  primitive  pair,"  (p.  84).  He  naturally  concludes, 
therefore,  for  one  centre  of  appearance  in  the  case  of  man,  which 
he  inclines  to  place  in  Northern  Asia  (p.  178). 

'"  According  to  Mr.  Kenouf 's  estimate  {Hibhert  Lectures,  1879, 
pp.  49,  50,  Lend.,  1880),  our  knowledge  of  Egypt  goes  back  to 
beyond  3000  b.c.  Dr.  Legge  places  the  invention  of  the  Chinese 
primitive  characters  at  about  the  same  date ;  Religions  of  China, 
pp.  8,  and  59,  60.     (London,  1880.) 

^'  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  the  series  of  Sacred  Boohs 
of  the  East,  edited  by  Prof.  Max  Miiller,  and  the  unpretentious  but 
very  useful  manuals  published  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge,  ou  Non-  Christian  Beligious  Systems,  besides  the 


I.]  Method  of  the  present  Lectures.  31 

Lastly,  a  re-reading  of  the  old  classical  mythologies 
seems  to  bring  the  whole  mass  into  focus,  and  to 
present  us  with  a  lively  picture  of  the  unity  of  the 
religious  instincts  and  aims  of  the  great  family  of 
mankind.  This  generation,  whatever  its  losses  in 
respect  to  traditional  reverence,  has  at  least  this 
enormous  gain,  that,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  it  can  survey  the  whole  field  of  natural 
theology,  with  a  fair  certainty  that  it  is  not  being 
deceived. 

Such,  then,  is  the  matter  before  us.  The  method 
I  shall  pursue  in  dealing  with  it  is  a  simple  one,  and 
will,  I  hope,  commend  itself  to  your  judgment. 

In  my  next  Lecture  I  shall  lay  the  foundation  for 
the  whole  argument,  by  comparing  and  contrasting 
the  Christian  and  Biblical  idea  of  Grod  with  the  chief 
non-Christian  and  heretical  conceptions  which  claim 
to  take  its  place.  In  those  that  follow,  I  shall  con- 
sider in  turn  the  three  great  positions  which  seem 
to  be  assumed  as  fundamental  in  all  religions. 

The  Jirst  of  these  is,  that  God  wills  to  make  Him- 
self known  to  man ;  that  He  is  a  God  of  Truth,  and 
a  giver  of  revelations  (Lectures  III.  lY.). 

The  second,  that  sin  separates  man  from  God,  and 
that  atonement  for  it  must  be  made  by  sacrifice 
(V.  VI.). 

The  third,  that  men  may  find  peace  and  favour 
with  God  in  this  life,  and  a  better  life  with  Him 
after  death  (YII.  VIII.). 

These  three  propositions,  if  summed  up  in  one  sen- 
tence for  the  sake  of  clearness,  amount  to  this,  viz. 

mass  of  separate  publications,  many  of  wliich  will  be  referred  to 
in  the  notes  to  the  following  Lectures. 


32  Introduction.  [Lect.  I. 

that  God  is  the  God  of  Truth,  of  Holiness,  and  of 
Peace,  and  as  such  wills  to  unite  man  to  Himself  in 
truth,  holiness,  and  peace.  As  the  God  of  Truth,  He 
deigns  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  the  soaring  intellect, 
which  He  has  created  to  look  upwards  to  Himself, 
and  to  find  rest  in  no  lower  sphere.  As  the  God  of 
Holiness,  He  wills  that  the  heart  and  affections, 
which  have  been  turned  away  from  Him  by  sin, 
should  be  brought  back  and  reconciled  to  His  Fa- 
therly love.  As  the  God  of  Peace,  He  desires  that 
the  will  of  man  should  be  ordered  and  disciplined  for 
ever  in  His  ways;  that  death  should  be  no  bar  to 
our  advancement,  but  that  we  should  be  carried  on- 
ward into  the  freedom  and  blessedness  of  eternal  life  ; 
that  the  Church  on  earth  should  lead  upward  to  the 
Church  in  heaven. 

Taking  these  propositions  as  the  groundwork  of 
my  Lectures,  I  shall  endeavour  to  prove  under  each 
of  these  three  heads  in  turn : — 

Firstly  J  that  non-Christian  religious  systems  assume 
or  bear  specific  witness  to  these  general  convictions ; 
while  they  fail,  often  by  their  own  admission,  to  sa- 
tisfy the  yearnings  to  which  they  give  utterance 
(Lectures  III.  Y.  and  VII.). 

Secondly^  that  the  Christian  revelation,  in  each  of 
these  respects,  does  represent  the  nature  of  God  in 
a  manner  befitting  His  glory,  and  does  give  the  true 
and  blessed  answer  to  the  needs  and  hopes  of  man 
(Lectures  IV.  VI.  and  VIIL). 


33 


LECTURE   11. 

EXODUS  iii.  13,  14. 

And  Moses  said  unto  God,  Behold,  when  I  come  unto  the 
children  of  Israel,  and  shall  say  unto  them,  "  The  God 
of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me  unto  you;"  and  they  shall 
say  to  me,  "What  is  His  Name?"  what  shall  I  say  unto 
them  ? 

And  God  said  unto  Moses,  "J  AM  THAT  I  AM:"  and 
He  said,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
"  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 


BIBLICAL  THEISM  CONTEASTED  WITH  OTHEE  CONCEPTIONS 
OF  THE  NATURE  OF  GOD. 

The  Unity  of  God  witnessed  by  instinct  and  reason,  but  only  ex- 
plicitly and  publicly  taught  by  those  who  acknowledge  the 
Bible. — God  revealed  to  Moses  as  both  Infinite  and  Personal, — 
"Why  this  unity  of  attributes  is  credible. — Departures  from  this 
belief  on  either  side. 

Pantbeism  a  one-sided  exaggeration  of  His  Infinity. — Its  danger. 
— Dualism  a  step  nearer  the  truth. — Sabellian  and  Eutychian 
types  of  heresy. 

Anthropomorphic  Deism  the  antithesis  to  Pantheism. — Exaggera- 
tion of  God's  personality  and  of  Man's  independence. — State 
religion  of  China.  —  Deistic  tendencies  in  Grseco -Roman  phi- 
losophy, and  in  Judaism. — In  later  times,  outsidfe  and  inside 
the  Church. — Islam. — Pelagian  and  Nestorian  heresies,  and  simi- 
lar movements. — Tubingen  School. — Conclusion. 

TNSTINCT,  reason,  and  revelation  all  combine  to 
speak  to  us  of  one  God.  The  soul  of  man,  at 
least  in  this  regard,  (as  Tertullian^  well  teaches 
us,)  is  '^  naturally  Christian."  Monotheism,  though 
it  is  the  public  creed  only  of  those  races  who  pos- 

^  Apologetimm,  chap.  17,  a  passage  enlarged  in  his  interesting 
treatise,  Le  Testimonio  animce. 

D 


34       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

sess  (or,  like  the  Mahometans,  at  least  acknowledge) 
the  Scriptures  ^  is,  nevertheless,  clearly  the  normal 
religion  of  mankind.     It  is  assumed,  or  implied,  in 
the°  ordinary   religious   language   of  every   nation; 
it  is  everywhere  a  sort  of  quiet  background  of  be- 
lief, waiting  to  be  called  into  actuality  at   the   ap- 
proach of  light;  it  is  that  to  which  the  best  thought 
of  the  best  minds  in  every  age  is  everywhere  dis- 
tinctly  tending.      To   this   truth   bear   witness   the 
general   names   for  God   existing   in  so   many   lan- 
guages, and  the  appeals  to  His  universal  power  and 
jlistice.   His   omniscience   and  His   mercy,  His  will 
and  goodness,   which  burst  from  the  heart  of  man 
whenever  he  is  deeply  stirred,    and   caught   (as   it 
were)  off  his  guards 

^  Islam  is,  of  course,  no  exception,  even  if  the  Moslem  idea  of 
God  was  less  faulty  than  it  is.     For  Mahomet  acknowledged  both 
the  Jewish  and  the  Christian  Scriptures,  and  considers  that  the 
Koran  is  confirmatory  of  them.     See  Sura,  v.  50-52  (Eodwell, 
ed  2,  p.  545),  a  passage  ending,  "  To  thee  we  have  sent  down  the 
Book'o/  the  Koran,  with  truth  confirmatory  of  previous  Scripture 
and  its  safeguard."    Cp.  Sara,  ii.  130  (p.  383);   iii.  79  (p.432) : 
"  Say  We  believe  in  God,  and  in  what  hath  been  sent  down  to 
us  and  what  hath  been  sent  down  to  Abraham,  and  Ismael,  and 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  the  tribes :  and  in  what  was  given  to  Moses, 
and  to  Jesus,  and  to  the  Prophets,  from  their  Lord.     We  make  no 
difference  between   them.      And  to  Him  are  we  resigned  (Mus- 
lims)."    Cp.  Max  Muller  on  Semitic  Monotheism,  which  he  traces 
to  the  faith  of  Abraham,  and  ascribes  to  a   '  special  revelation  : 
Selected  Essays,  vol.  ii.  pp.  433  foil,   (reprinted  in  1881).      The 
modern  PSrsis  may  seem  to  be  an  exception,  but  they  have  come  too 
much  in  contact  with  Christian  and  Mahometan  theists  to  be  cited. 
See  below,  p.  50. 

3  Cp.  Minucius  Felix  Octavius,  c.  18,  "Audio  vulgus,  cum  ad 
CJElum  manus  tendunt,  nihil  aliud  quam  deum  dicunt,  et  '  deus 
magnus  est'  et  'deus  verus  est,'  et  '  si  deus  dederit.'^  Vulgi  iste 
naturalis  sermo  est,  an  Christiani  confitentis  oratio  ?  "  Similarly, 
Tertullian,  de  testimonio  animce,  c.  2,  and  AjJol,  c.  17. 


II.]  Natural  Monotheism.  35 

Hear  en  this  point  a  Kaffir, — one  of  that  race 
which  has  often  been  calumniated  as  atheistic, — 
who  thus  adds  his  contribution  to  the  great  tes- 
timony of  the  "  consensus  gentium  * :  " — 

"  We  had  this  word  [the  name  of  Grorl]  long  before  the 
missionaries  came :  we  had  God  (Utikxo)  long  ago :  for 
a  man,  when  dying,  would  utter  his  last  words,  saying, 
'  I  am  going  home,  I  am  going  up  on  high.'  For  there 
is  a  word  in  a  song  which  says  : — 

'  Guide  me,  0  Hawk  ! 
That  I  may  go  heavenward, 
To  seek  the  one-hearted  man, 
Away  from  the  double-hearted  men 
Who  deal  in  blessing  and  cursing.' 
-Jf  ^-  %  * 

"  So  we  say  there  is  no  God  who  has  just  come  to  us. 
Let  no  man  say,  '  The  God  which  is,  is  the  God  of  the 
English.'  There  are  not  many  Gods :  there  is  but  one 
God.  We  err  when  we  say,  '  He  is  the  God  of  the  Enghsh.' 
He  is  not  the  God  of  certain  nations ;  j  ust  as  man  is  not 
English  and  Kosa ;  he  is  not  Fingo  and  Hottentot  j  he  is 
one  man,  who  came  forth  from  one  God." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  put  this  great  truth  more 
powerfully  and  succinctly  than  it  is  stated  by  this 
Kaffir  theologian,  the  first-fruits  of  a  race  just 
brought  to  Christ.  We  cannot  fail  to  recognize  in 
these  simple  words  the  real  instinctive  voice  of 
natural  piety  which  has  already  thrilled  us  in  so 
many   other    languages.      And    the    persistent    tes- 

*  Translated  by  Bp.  Callaway,  in  the  South  African  Folk-Lore 
Journal,  vol.  ii.  p.  56,  foil.  (Capetown  and  London,  Nutt,  1880.) 
Cp.  also  his  lecture  On  the  Religious  Sentiment  among  the  Tribes  of 
South  Africa,  recently  published  in  the  Cape  Magazine,  of  which 
he  has  kindly  sent  mo  a  copy. 

d2 


36        Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.    [Lect. 

timony  of  instinct  is  reinforced  by  that  of  reason. 
The  well-known  arguments  from  nature  and  human 
nature  can  never  be  effete.  On  the  one  hand,  a  view 
of  nature  teaches  us,  first,  that  all  things  have 
a  Cause,  which  is  itself  uncaused.  Eternal,  and  In- 
finite, and  is  the  efficient  and  adequate  cause  of 
all  that  is,  whether  intelligent  or  unintelligent ; 
and  secondly,  that  all  things  have  an  End,  or  (as 
it  is  often  called)  a  final  Cause,  and  that  end  a  ful- 
filment of  the  will  of  God.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  survey  of  human  nature,  quite  apart  from  our 
own  instincts  or  conclusions,  and  regarding  it  as 
a  field  of  scientific  enquiry,  teaches  us  other  lessons 
of  the  same  kind.  We  see  that  man,  considered 
as  a  reasoning  animal,  and,  therefore,  certainly  not 
made  in  vain  and  to  no  purpose,  exhibits  two  great 
tendencies.  The  first  is  Dependence  upon  the  un- 
seen, leading  him  to  prayer  and  humble  reverence 
to  the  author  of  his  life ;  the  second  is  the  pursuit 
of  an  Ideal  of  moral  goodness,  leading  him  to  sacri- 
fice and  its  correlative  rites,  and  to  an  enunciation 
of  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  as  a  Divine  law. 
These  four  methods  of  argument,  viz.  from  Causation 
and  Design  in  I^ature,  and  from  the  sense  of  De- 
pendence and  of  the  Moral  Law  in  Man,  when  com.- 
bined  together,  carry  us  nearly  to  that  belief  in 
God,  which  we  learn  from  Holy  Scripture.  They 
teach  us  that  there  is  one  Supreme  Being,  at  once 
Infinite  and  Personal,  who  is  perfect  in  power  and 
perfect  in  moral  nature. 

Yet  it  needs   little  or  no  imagination  to   under- 
stand that  this   great   truth    gains    a'    much   more 


II.]         Necessitij  of  the  Scriptural  Eevelation,  37 

powerful  and  decisive  hold  upon  the  minds  of  men 
when  explicitly  declared  as  a  truth  of  revelation. 

"  Though  the  works  of  nature  (says  Locke  ^)  in 
every  part  of  them  sufficiently  evidence  a  Deity, 
yet  the  v/orld  made  so  little  use  of  their  reason, 
that  they  saw  Him  not,  where,  even  by  the  impres- 
sion of  Himself,  He  was  easy  to  be  found."  "Native 
and  original  truth  is  not  so  easily  wrought  out  of  the 
mine  as  we,  who  have  it  delivered  ready  into  our 
hands,  are  apt  to  imagine  '^." 

Accordingly,  as  we  have  already  said,  as  a  matter 
of  historic  fact,  only  those  peoples  who  acknowledge 
the  Scriptures  have  made  public  profession  of  Mo- 
notheism. Even  in  the  case  of  this  most  simple  and 
fundamental  principle  of  religion,  a  revelation  was 
necessary  to  formulate  and  establish  what  all  nature 
and  all  experience  was  tending  to  teach.  This  must 
strike  us,  even  at  first  sight,  as  a  great  point  in 
favour  of  the  Scriptures  considered  as  a  body  of  doc- 
trine. We  cannot  imagine  this  superiority  to  be  an 
accident,  or  to  be  confined  to  one  division  only  of  the 
massive  and  coherent  structure  of  Scriptural  theology. 
There  is,  as  we  very  soon  recognize,  a  vital  connec- 
tion between  belief  in  one  God,  as  taught  in  the 
Bible,  and  all  the  other  articles  of  our  faith.  He  who 
accepts  the  first  is  naturally  led  on  to  accept  tliose 
that  follow.  Nor  shall  we  err  in  thinking,  that  if 
we  grasp  aright  the  doctrine  of  one  God  as  taught 
in  the  Bible,  we  shall  be  able  also  to  understand  the 

*  ReasonaUe7iess  of  Christianity,  §  167.  *  Ibid.,  §  170, 

speakiag  of  moral  truths. 


38       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

unique  superiority  of  our  creed,  and  to  distinguish 
it  from  all  false  and  defective  systems. 

To  make  clear  this  distinction  is  the  task  which 
we  have  before  us  this  morning.  Let  us  first  ask 
what  is  the  essence,  or  inner  principle,  of  the  Biblical 
conception  of  God.  To  discover  this,  we  naturally 
look  to  the  great  revelation  of  the  Divine  name 
made  to  Moses  on  Mount  Sinai.  ""What  shall  I  say 
unto  the  people  when  they  ask  the  name  of  their 
fathers'  God?"  is  the  prophet's  question.  The 
answer  is,  "I  am  that  I  am."  .  .  .  .  "  I  am  hath 
sent  me  unto  you." 

It  can  hardly  escape  any  one  here  that  this  Divine 
name,  when  analysed,  presents  us  with  a  twofold 
mysterious  idea,  that  of  Infinity  and  Personality  in 
combination.  In  this  name,  "  I  am  that  I  am," 
or,  as  we  should  say  in  modern  English,  "  I  am 
that  which  I  am,"  we  are  first  taught  that  God 
is  absolute,  independent,  self-existent,  eternal.  His 
nature  can  be  expressed  adequately  in  no  other  terms 
than  those  of  a  comparison  with  Himself.  All  other 
things  have  a  limit  outside  them;  they  are  finite, 
that  is  to  say,  bounded  and  conditioned,  produced 
by,  or  tending  to,  or  supported  by  something  else. 
But  it  is  not  so  with  God,  who  alone  is  Infinite, 
who  depends  on  nothing,  while  all  other  things 
depend  upon  Him  ;  who  alone  is  that  which  He  is, 
and  not  what  others  are. 

Other  things  are  defined  in  terms  of  something 
higher  and  more  generic.  But  God  can  only  be 
defined  as  being  that  which  He  is,  —  the  First, 
the   Midst,    and    the   Last,    of  whom,    and    through 


II.]  God  at  once  Infinite  and  Personal.  39 

whom,  and  to  whom  are  all  things  (Isa.  xliv.  6 ; 
xlvm..l2  ;  Eev.  i.  8  ;  Eom.  xi.  36). 

This  is  one  thought  suggested  by  reflection  on  the 
revelation  made  to  Moses.  The  other,  and  the  com- 
jDlementary  thought  to  it,  is  that  of  the  Personality 
of  God.  There  is,  as  we  have  said,  nothing,  how- 
ever awful  and  mysterious,  with  which  God  can 
be  compared  except  Himself ;  and  further,  that 
self  is,  as  far  as  language  can  assert  or  imply 
anything,  asserted  or  implied  to  be  a  Personal  one. 
The  "  I "  which  appears  both  in  the  subject  and 
the  predicate  of  the  sentence,  i.e.  both  in  the  first 
and  second  clauses,  can  bear  no  other  meaning. 
It  assures  us  that  the  God  of  Israel  desires  to  be 
known  as  one  who  is  conscious  of  His  own  Being, 
and  who  distinguishes  His  will  from  that  of  His 
creatures. 

This  is  the  meaning  of  the  first  utterance.  The 
second  carries  it  on,  and  enlarges  it.  "Thus  shalt 
thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  I  am  hath 
sent  me  unto  you."  Here  we  have  the  assertion 
of  God's  will  in  action,  of  His  regard  for  His 
creatures,  and  desire  to  make  Himself -known  for 
their  good.  And  this  emphatic  assertion  of  per- 
sonal interest  and  loving  care  pervades  the  whole 
Bible ;  and  is  fundamental  to  the  whole  Hebrew 
and  Christian  conception  of  the  Divinity. 

Let  us,  then,  this  morning  start  with  the  doc- 
trine of  Biblical  Theism,  and  consider  its  central 
position  and  value  as  the  foundation -truth  of  re- 
ligion. But  first  we  must  dispose  of  an  obvious 
objection   which   is   constantly   made   to  it.      God, 


40      BiUieal  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

as  revealing  Himself  to  Moses,  speaks  as  both  In- 
finite and  Personal.  Is  there,  or  is  there  not,  an 
inconsistency  between  these  attributes  ? 

Infinity  (as  we  have  seen)  asserts  the  absence  of 
limit :  nothing  exists  outside  it ;  and,  in  the  words 
of  St.  Paul,  the  infinite  God  is  He  in  whom  we  all 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being  (Acts  xvii.  28). 
Personality,  on  the  other  hand,  is  unknown  to 
us  by  experience,  except  in  connection  with  limit. 
One  person,  or  ''I,"  is  limited  by  another;  and 
consciousness,  as  far  as  we  understand  it,  suggests 
definitely  an  acknowledgment  of  such  limitation,  an 
apprehension  of  the  difference  between  self  and  some- 
thing outside  self,  or,  as  philosophers  say,  between 
the  I  and  the  not  I.  Thus,  while  the  truth  of  the 
Infinity  of  God  teaches  us,  for  example,  that  all 
things  do  His  will,  the  truth  of  His  Personality 
teaches  us  to  distinguish  His  will  from  the  wills 
of  His  creatures. 

There  is  absolutely  no  way,  as  yet  known  to  us, 
out  of  this  difficulty.  If  we  seek  to  explain  this 
apparent  inconsistency,  we  are  brought  face  to  face 
with  a  problem,  insoluble  to  our  present  reason- 
ing powers.  That  is  to  say,  we  are  not  capable, 
being  men,  of  understanding  the  "  how "  and  the 
''why"  of  what  is  so  much  above  us.  Yet,  none 
the  less,  we  are  capable  of  believing  in  the  fact 
of  this  union  of  apparent  opposites  in  the  Divine 
nature.  And  thus  much  we  can  say  in  explanation — 
and  this  goes  a  long  way  in  pointing  to  the  direc- 
tion where  the  solution  of  the  problem  lies.  Divine 
Personality  differs  ineffably  from  that  of  those  created 


II.]  Credihility  of  the  Mystery.  41 

beings  whose  experience  we  use  in  forming  our  idea 
of  what  is  personal.  The  limits  of  the  Divine  Being, 
in  His  relation  to  other  dependent  beings,  are  only 
such  as  He  chooses  to  impose  upon  Himself,  while 
all  other  beings  rest  within  the  limits  He  fashions 
for  them  and  outside  them.  It  is  His  infinite  will 
that  certain  finite  wills  should  subsist  in  time,  dis- 
tinguishable from  His  own. 

And  surely  even  our  own  experience  supplies  some 
faint  analogy,  some  degree  of  likeness,  to  this  tran- 
scendent marvel  of  the  unity  of  the  Infinite  and 
the  Personal.  The  higher  and  nobler  the  nature 
of  a  human  being,  the  broader  and  deeper  is  its  sym- 
pathy. We  have  an  expansive  power  by  which  we 
can  enter  into  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  others, 
and  as  we  approach  to  God,  we  experience  at  once 
a  deeper  feeling  of  our  own  personality,  and  a  greater 
facility  in  passing  outside  it.  The  character  of  finite 
being  is  intensified,  while  its  limits  are  extended, 
indefinitely  if  not  infinitely,  by  Love. 

This  mystery,  then,  is  a  perfectly  credible  one, 
though  completely  inexplicable;  and  it  is  credible, 
not  only  because  it  has  the  stamp  of  the  highest 
authority,  and  is  established  by  a  concordance  and 
intimate  coherence  of  those  rational  arguments  to 
which  I  have  alluded,  but  also  because  it  is  to  us 
inexplicable.  The  old  sayings.  Credo  quia  absurdum. 
Credo  quia  impossihile^  which  have  been  often  ridi- 
culed, and  often  (it  must  be  confessed)  misused, 
have,  like  almost  all  sayings  current  in  the  Church, 
a  great  deal  of  the  soberest  common  sense  at  the 
bottom  of  them.     The  object  of  thought  in  this  case 


42        BiUical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.     [Lect. 

is  the  nature  of  God,  and  the  persons  engaged  in 
contemplating  it  are  men,  that  is  to  say,  beings  of 
short  life  and  very  limited  intelligence,  and  pnny 
faculties  of  all  kinds  ;  creatures  who  can  hardly  think 
for  a  few  hours  in  succession  without  a  head-ache, 
utterly  powerless  to  make  the  merest  insect,  and 
a  mystery  to  themselves  and  to  one  another. 

These  men,  it  is  confessed,  come  from  God,  live 
in  dependence  upon  Him,  and  can  look  forward 
to  no  higher  immortality  than  that  of  daily  grow- 
ing nearer  to  Him,  and  knowing  and  loving  Him 
more  profoundly.  Such  men  cannot  believe  in  a 
merely  obvious  and  trivial  account  of  God.  "Where 
would  be  the  disparity  of  powers,  if  the  creature 
at  once  understood  the  nature  of  the  Creator  ?  "Where 
would  be  the  mysterious  fulness  of  the  idea  of 
God,  of  which  the  fulness  of  His  world  seems  to 
be  so  natural  an  image  ?  Where  would  be  the 
inexhaustible  depth  and  riches  of  His  nature,  an- 
swering to  the  illimitable  periods  of  eternal  life 
that  lie  before  our  view  ? 

We  believe,  then,  in  the  union  of  Infinity  and 
Personality  in  God,  for  this,  among  other  good 
reasons,  that  it  absolutely  removes  God  from  any 
comparison  with  ourselves.  It  puts  Him  upon  a 
level  of  being  utterly  above  and  beyond  us,  it  ex- 
alts Him  to  a  throne  which  is  worthy  of  the  Lord 
of  heaven  and  earth. 

But  it  is  not  strange  that  other  religious  systems 
have  failed  to  grasp  the  fulness  of  this  mysterious 
truth.  Mankind  is  prone  to  be  one-sided;  and 
in   this   especially,    as    in    other   things,    error   has 


IL]  Pantheism  and  Deism  contrasted.  43 

come  from  exaggeration  of  a   part,  while   truth   is 
only  to  be  found  in  the  comprehension  of  the  whole. 

Of  this  error,  the  two  extreme  and  most  clearly 
antithetical  forms  are  Pantheism  and  anthropomor- 
phic Peism ''' ;  each  of  them  in  its  way  a  logical 
and  natural  system,  but  each  perfectly  irrational 
as  a  religion.  Eepresenting,  as  they  do,  the  two 
opposite  tendencies  of  the  human  mind,  they  may 
be  said  to  stand  on  the  extreme  left  and  right  of 
the  central  truth.  They  are  opposed,  that  is  to 
say,  in  religion,  as  synthesis  is  to  analysis,  as 
the  combinative  is  to  the  separative  process  in  phi- 
losophy. Pantheism  generalises,  or  is  synthetic ; 
while  Deism  particularises  and  discriminates,  or,  in 
other  words,  is  analytic.  Pantheism  seizes  on  the 
idea  of  Universality  and  Infinity,  and  exaggerates 
it  out  of  all  sense  and  measure ;  while  Deism  grasps 
that  of  separate  Personality,  and  developes  it  with 
equal  onesidedness  and  unreason.  Pantheism,  that 
is  to  say,  represents  God  as  Infinite,  without  being 
Personal,  as  the  one  substance  of  which  all  things 
that  exist  are  modifications;  while  Deism  sets  Him 
before  us  as  Personal,  but  limited  and,  separated 
from  His  creatures,  —  in  other  words,  denies  His 
Infinity,    and   treats    Him    as    one   who    is    to    be 

■''  For  a  clear  statement  of  this  antithesis,  compare  H.  L.  Mansel, 
Second  Letter  to  Prof.  Goldwin  Smith,  p.  2,  (Oxford,  1862) ;  a  letter 
directed  against  the  tendency  which  he  calls  **  Anthropomorphism," 
and  defending  himself  against  the  criticism  upon  his  Bampton 
Lectures.  See  also  Th.  Christlieb,  Modern  Doubt  and  Christian 
Belief,  Lecture  III.,  on  3Iodern  non-Bihlical  Conceptions  of  God, 
especially  the  latter  half  (pp.  161—209,  E.  T.,  Edinburgh,  1874), 
•which  traverses  much  the  same  ground  as  the  present  Lecture. 


44       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

judged  as  one  of  ourselves.  Between  the  two  come 
various  phases  of  belief,  approaching  the  truth  more 
or  less  on  either  side,  but  all  tinged  with  one  or 
other  of  these  two  colours. 

I  need  not  occupy  your  time  with  long  descriptions 
of  all  these  types  of  erroneous  doctrine.  A  scheme 
or  table  may  be  presented  ^,  from  which  it  is  easy  to 
see  at  a  glance  the  general  connection  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  different  schools  of  thought  both  within 
and  without  the  Church.  It  will  now  suffice  to 
give  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  most  prominent  opinions. 
Those  to  whom  the  subject  is  new,  will  find  it 
helpful  to  remember,  that  the  pantheistic  tendency 
inside  the  Church  is  due  mainly  to  the  adoption 
of  pagan  modes  of  thought,  and  to  the  reception 
of  many  half- converts  from  heathenism  within  her 
fold.  Deistic  leanings,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
closely  connected  with  the  Jewish  elements  in  Chris- 
tendom, especially  in  those  early  believers  (the 
Ebionites),  who  accepted  Jesus  as  the  Messiah, 
but  did  not  recognize  in  Him  the  eternal  Son 
of  God. 

To  begin  with  the  extreme  left,  or  Pantheism. 
This  may  be  said  to  be  the  natural  result  of  un- 
checked meditation  on  the  unity  and  continuity 
of  nature,  and  upon  the  interaction  of  natural  forces, 
without  adequate  regard  to  the  culture  of  the  will 
and  the  heart.  Pantheism,  in  its  baldest  form,  as- 
serts that  the  universe  and  God  are  convertible 
terms;  that  God  is  everything,  and  everything  is 
God.  More  philosophically  stated,  it  teaches  that 
^  See  the  table  at  the  end  of  this  Lecture. 


II.]  Various  forms  of  Pantheism.  45 

there  is  only  one  eternal  and  infinite  substance^, 
of  which  all  things  that  exist  are  modifications, 
with  no  permanent  individual  existence.  It  matters 
little  ia  what  form  this  belief  is  held,  or  how  the 
relation  of  the  One  to  its  subordinate  and  consti- 
tutive many  is  conceived'".  It  may  be  under  the 
comparatively  childish  hypothesis  of  emanations, 
which  is  that  of  some  of  the  Hindu  Upanishads, 
which  suppose  the  visible  universe  to  grow  out  of 
the  unseen  Divine  substance,  as  the  web  is  drawn 
out  of  the  spider,  as  plants  spring  out  of  the  ground, 
or  as  hairs  grow  upon  a  living  being  ^'.  It  may  be 
the  fashionable  sentiment  of  the  age  of  Nero  : — 

"Jupiter  est  quoclcumque  vides  quodcumque  moveris '-," 

"  Spinoza,  Ethics,  i.  prop.  xiv. :  "  Prseter  Deum  nulla  dari 
Deque  concipi  potest  substantia." 

^°  ev  Koi  TTCLv  is  the  motto  of  Greek  pantheism,  attributed  to 
Xenophanes  of  Elea.  See  Zeller,  Pre-Socratic  Philosophy  (tr.  by 
Alleyne,  vol.  i.  pp.  562,  563,  Lond.,  1881),  who  thinks  this  was 
said  in  a  pantheistic  sense,  notwithstanding  some  striking  theistic 
expressions  of  Xenophanes,  e.g.  those  qiioted  by  Clemens  Alex., 
Strom.,  V.  p.  601C. 

^^  Ifundaica  TIpanishad,  i.  1 .  7,  quoted  by  Dr.  Kay  in  his  ex- 
cellent papers  in  the  Missionary,  p.  35,  (Calcutta,  1853.)  Cp.Monier 
"Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  39 ;  and  Max  Mullei''s  Upanishads, 
p.  205  {Sacred  Books,  vol.  i.  1879).  "  The  seed  of  Pra^apati  are 
the  Devas  (gods).  The  seed  of  the  Devas  is  rain.  The  seed  of 
rain  are  herbs.  The  seed  of  herbs  is  food.  The  seed  of  food  is 
seed.  The  seed  of  seed  are  creatures.  The  seed  of  creatures  is  the 
heart.  The  seed  of  the  heart  is  the  mind.  The  seed  of  the  mind 
is  speech  (Veda).  The  seed  of  speech  is  action  (sacrifice).  The 
action  done  (in  a  former  state)  is  this  man,  the  abode  of  Brahman." 
[Aitareya-Ardttyaka,  ii.  1.3.) 

^2  Lucan,  Pharsalia,  ix.  579  :  from  Gate's  speech  to  Labienus 
against  consulting  the  oracle  of  Hammon,  a  speech  which  the  poet 
considers  equal  to  any  revelation. 


46         Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.    [Lect. 

It  may  be  the  literary  commonplace  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century : — 

"  All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
Whose  body  nature  is,  and  God  the  soul  ^^" 

It  may  be  the  vague  idealism,  dear  to  the  hearts 
of  some  modern  poets,  which  supposes  spirit  to  be 
everything  and  matter  nothing,  and  explains  our 
perception  of  things  to  be  merely  an  illusion  of 
the  senses  and  the  understanding,  and  that  the 
world  is  a  place 

"Where  nothing  is,  and  all  things  seem, 
And  we  the  shadows  of  the  dream"." 

It  may  be  the  Tao  or  immaterial  potentiality  of 
the  Chinese  Laotse,  which,  coming  from  non-exist- 
ence into  existence,  returns  again  to  nothing  ^^. 

It  may  be  the  theory  of  the  Yedantist  that  God 
willingly  and  intentionally,  for  amusement,  loses 
Himself  in  nature,  imposing  ignorance  upon  Him- 
self, and,  as  we  may  say,  ignoring  Himself  in  His 
manifestations^^;  or,  it  may  be  the  converse  theory 
of  the  Hegelian,  that  God  is  the  pure  idea  realizing 

^'  Pope,  Essay  on  Man,  Epistle  1,  near  the  end. 

1*  Shelley,  The  Setisitive  Plant;  Poems,  p.  497,  (Lond.  1853). 
The  likeness  of  this  thought  to  the  Hindu  Mciyd,  or  illusion,  is 
very  noticeable. 

^^  See  Confucianism  and  Taouism,  by  R.  K.  Douglas,  p.  214. 

^®  The  two  great  maxims  of  this  sect  are,  "  One  only  Essence 
(or  Being)  without  a  second," — the  famous  "  Ekam  evadvitlyam," 
— and  "Brahma  is  true,  the  world  is  false,  the  soul  is  only  Brahma 
and  no  other,"  (M.  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  113).  On  the 
principle  of  Avidya,  which  represents  God  as  ignoring  Himself 
in  developing  the  phenomenal  world,  see  ibid.,  p.  118. 


II.]  Pantheism  :  its  disastrous  Resutts.  47 

itself  in  the  progress  of  human  consciousness,  and 
so  finding  His  true  self  in  mankind  ^^. 

But"  in  every  case  the  God  of  Pantheism  is  a  prin- 
ciple, not  a  person,  however  reverent  language  may, 
from  time  to  time,  be  used  concerning  Him. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  disastrous  results  of 
this  exaggeration.  This  eternal  substance,  or  Spirit, 
has  no  true  choice  of  will,  no  desire  for  good,  no 
providence,  no  moral  attributes  of  any  kind. 

This  philosophy  thus  cuts  away  the  whole  basis 
of  morality,  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong, 
and  between  good  and  evil.  For  if  these  differences 
do  not  exist  for  the  whole,  which  is  the  highest,  why 
should  they  exist  in  the  parts  ?  In  the  same  way, 
it  destroys  the  whole  idea  of  Free-will,  and  of  Ee- 
sponsibility.  For  if  we  are  but  parts  of  a  vast  ma- 
chine, or  rather  of  a  general  process  of  being  or 
becoming,  we  cannot  have  a  freedom  greater  than 
is  possessed  by  the  whole;  and  so,  again,  we  can- 
not be  responsible  for  our  actions  to  a  being  which 
has  no  personal  existence. 

Thus,  for  the  Pantheist,  if  he  be  really  con- 
sistent and  logical,  the  whole  of  Life  and  Nature 
is  but  a  meaningless  vision,  from  which  all  will 
and   purpose   are   removed.      He  has   nothing   final 

"  Hegel  himself  {lieliijimis  philosojjhie,  section  headed  der  specu- 
lative Begriff  der  Religion,  Works,  vol.  xi.  p.  200,  Berlin,  1840), 
speculatively  defines  religion  as  "the  self-consciousness  of  the  ab- 
solute Spirit,"  and  as  "the  self-knowledge  of  the  divine  Spirit 
through  the  medium  of  the  finite  Spirit."  Hegel  frequently  de- 
fends himself  from  the  charge  of  Spiuozism,  and  he  certainly  feels 
after  a  more  living  God  than  Spinoza ;  but  the  general  tendency 
of  his  teaching  seems  to  be  pantheistic.  Cp.  J.  A.  Dorner,  System 
of  Chr.  Loct.,  E.  T.,  vol.  i.  p.  400  (Edinb.,  1880). 


48      Bihlical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

before  him,  either  to  hope  or  to  fear.  If  he  be 
a  man  of  higher  type  of  mind,  the  best  that  he 
can  do  is  to  sit  down  in  ecstatic  contemplation 
and  adoration  of  something — he  knows  not  what. 
If  he  belongs  to  a  lower  order,  he  plunges  into 
every  form  of  enjoyment  or  worldly  pursuit,  into 
mere  materialism  and  secularity.  He  is  like  a  sailor 
without  a  definite  port  to  steer  to,  sometimes  eagerly 
pursuing  this  or  that,  sometimes  idly  drifting  with 
the  current ;  sometimes  wildly  sensual,  sometimes  fan- 
tastically refined ;  sometimes  eager  for  knowledge, 
sometimes  curious  in  asceticism  ;  but  in  every  case, 
without  principle  and  without  determination. 

The  two  great  historical  examples  of  the  working 
out  of  this  tendency  are  to  be  found  in  India  and 
ancient  Egypt,  which  are  the  two  chief  types  of  really 
intelligent  and  powerful  heathenism,  running  their 
full  course  in  the  world.  In  both,  a  comparatively 
simple  worship  of  the  forces  of  nature  has  been  de- 
veloped among  the  people  into  a  great  system  and 
world  of  gods,  and  an  elaborate  and  pedantic  ritual. 
But  side  by  side  with  this  has  grown  up  an  esoteric 
doctrine  or  philosophy  of  religion,  with  a  general 
pantheistic  colouring,  but  having  all  varieties  of 
shades  down  to  pure  sensuality  and  hopeless  athe- 
ism ^^     And  what  has  taken  place  in  these  countries 

^®  On  the  Hindu  philosophy,  see  J.  C.  Thompson,  introduction 
to  translation  of  the  Bhagavad-Gitd  (Hertford,  1855);  K.  M.  Ba- 
nerjea,  Dialogues  on  the  Hindu  FJiilosophy  (Williams  and  Norgate, 
1861),  and  M.Williams'  Indian  Wisdom  and  Hinduism.  On  the 
tendency  to  Atheism  in  India,  cp.  Max  Miiller,  Hibhert  Lectures, 
1878,  pp.  298  foil.  On  similar  tendencies  in  Egypt,  see  Eenouf's 
last  lecture  in  the  same  series.  It  has  sometimes  been  said  that 
the   esoteric  doctrine  of  Egypt  was  pure  monotheism,   and  the 


II.]  Pantheism  and  Dualism.  49 

is  found  more  or  less  constantly  in  all  heathen  na- 
tions at  all  advanced  in  civilization.  There  is  an 
inner  doctrine  for  the  wise,  which  does  not  rise  above 
a  conception  of  the  Infinity  of  God,  and  often  falls 
below  it. 

But  everywhere,  when  men  have  recoiled  from 
the  vulgar  worship  of  many  gods,  or  from  the 
pride  and  self  -  assertion  of  their  fellows,  or  from  a 
crude  state -religion,  Pantheism  has  been  the  fan- 
cied harbour  of  refuge,  which  has  proved  a  fatal 
gulf  to  many  thoughtful  minds.  It  is  found  amongst 
Jews,  Mahometans,  and  Christians,  under  various 
names,  but  everywhere  with  the  same  deadening 
and  disastrous  results.  It  sheds  an  evanescent  rain- 
bow light  over  certain  schools  of  poetry  and  art; 
it  creeps  into  the  ritual  of  the  Church,  and  into 
the  discipline  of  the  convent ;  it  takes  shelter  alike 
in  the  epicurean  rose-garden,  and  in  the  cell  of  the 
mystic  ;  but  it  withers  (thank  God  !)  when  the 
heart  is  stirred  by  the  call  of  duty,  and  when 
active,  self-sacrificing  love  to  man  is  recognized  as 
the  true  expression  of  love  to  God. 

Nearer  to  the  Truth  than  Pantheism,  but  pbviously 
on  the  same  side,  comes  Dualism  ;  that  is  to  say, 
a  separation  of  the  Divine  Being  into  two  elements, 
or  principles,  variously  contrasted  as  good  and  evil, 
as  procreation  and  destruction,  as  light  and  darkness, 

phrase,  "  nuk  pu  nuk,"  often  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  gods, 
has  been  translated,  "  I  am  that  I  am."  It  is  accepted,  for  in- 
stance, by  Bp.  Ellicott,  The  Being  of  Ood,  p.  39  (S.P.C.K.,  1880). 
Mr.  Renouf,  however,  tells  us  it  simply  means,  *'  I  even  I"  {Ifib- 
bert  Lectures,  1879,  p.  244,  compared  with  his  letter  in  the  Aca- 
demy for  June  26,  1880,  p.  475). 
E 


50        Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.     [Lect. 

or  as  spirit  and  matter.  Here  we  see  the  moral 
sense  rejecting  the  miserable  helplessness  and  con- 
fusion of  Pantheism;  but,  through  its  inability  to 
rise  to  the  idea  of  a  Creator  of  perfect  power  (though 
it  ascribes  to  Him  the  perfection  of  goodness),  it  has 
assumed  that  good  and  evil  are  co- eternal,  and 
that  there  is  a  perpetual  warfare  between  them. 
The  result  of  this  belief  has  been,  while  setting 
the  human  will  in  some  measure  free,  to  leave  it 
still  in  doubt  as  to  its  power  or  its  responsibility. 
For  sin  is  treated  by  the  thorough-going  Dualist  as 
an  involuntary  pollution  or  uneleanness  from  contact 
with  the  realm  of  darkness,  as  something,  therefore, 
external  and  physical,  rather  than  as  a  voluntary 
act  of  the  soul :  and,  further,  a  sharp  line  is  drawn 
between  those  creatures  who  belong  naturally  to  the 
one  kingdom  and  to  the  other,  a  line  which  limits 
the  sympathies  and  the  hopes  of  men  to  the  inner 
circle  of  the  servants  of  light.  The  chief  historical 
manifestation  of  Dualism  has  been  in  the  old  Persian 
or  Zoroastrian  religion  ^^,  which  under  Darius  (if  not 
so  certainly  under  Cyrus)  appeared  to  be  verging  to- 
wards monotheism,  and  which  still  exists,  with  much 
of  its  early  dogmatism  purged  away  under  persecution 

19  On  Ormazd  and  Ahriman  see  James  Darmesteter,  translation 
of  the  Zend-Avesta  {Sacred  Books  of  the  East,Yo\.  iv.),  Introduction, 
pp.  Ixx.  foil.,  and  a  separate  essay  on  the  same  subject,  Ormazd 
et  Ahriman  (Paris,  1877).  Cp.  Monier  Williams,  The  Religion  of 
Zoroaster,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  for  Jan.,  1881,  vol.  9,  pp.  155 
— 176,  whose  conclusions  are  somewhat  different. 

On  Cyrus  and  Darius,  with  reference  to  the  inscriptions,  see 
Mr.  T.  K.  Cheyne's  Essay  in  his  Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  264—270  (Lond.,  1881). 


II.]      Sabellian  and  Eutychian  types  of  Heresij.         51 

and  exile,  so  that  it  has  become  chiefly  a  supersti- 
tious theism  20.  But  the  real  influence  of  Dualism 
has  been  rather  in  the  form  of  an  under-current 
of  heresy,  just  on  the  verge  or  within  the  pale  of 
the  Christian  Church,  sometimes  in  the  glaringly 
repulsive  speculations  of  Gnostics  and  Manichaeans  -^, 
sometimes  in  the  more  insidious  forms  of  antinomian 
assertions  of  sinlessness  in  the  elect  and  reprobation 
of  the  lost,  or  in  a  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  sacraments 
and  charms,  apart  from  holiness  of  life. 

Nearer  yet  to  Christianity,  but  still  on  the  same 
Pantheistic  side,  come  the  philosophical  heresies, 
which  we  may  call  by  the  quasi-generic  names  of 
Sabellian  when  they  relate  to  the  Trinity,  and 
Eutychian  when  they  concern  the  person  of  Christ. 
They  are  remnants,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  Pantheistic 
love  of  oneness,  of  identification,  of  confusion  dis- 
guised under  Christian  formulas.  It  is  worth  while 
to  see  this  clearly,  for  a  great  many  persons  covertly 
hold  these  doctrines,  without  understanding  why 
they  are  in  the  wrong. 

^°  See  Max  Miiller's  Chips,  vol.  i.,  article  on  The  Modem  Farsis, 
On  p.  173  he  quotes  a  catechism,  distinctly  teaching  belief  in  one 
God  the  creator  of  all  things,  and  repudiating  belief  in  any  other. 
Cp.  Hang's  Essays,  ed.  2,  p.  53  ;  Darmesteter,  Zend-Avesta,  pp. 
Ixxxiii.  foil. ;  M.  "Williams,  The  Pdrs'is,  in  Nineteenth  Cent., 
March,  1881,  p.  506  foil. 

-'  The  Alexandrian  Gnostics  were  more  theoretically  Pantheistic, 
and  thought  that  evil  arose  from  the  last  link  of  a  series  of  emana- 
tions,— growing  enfeebled  by  distance  from  the  primal  source, — and 
dropping  into  the  chaos  of  matter.  The  Syrian  Gnostics,  and  spe- 
cially the  Manichasans,  were  more  decidedly  Dualist.  See  the 
interesting  passage  in  Neander's  Church  History,  vol.  ii.  pp.  11 — ■ 
17,  E.  T.,  ed.  Bohn,  1851  ;  and  Dr.  Mansel's  Lectures. 
E  2 


52       Biblical  Theism  and  oilier  Ideas  of  God.     [Lect. 

According  to  the  Sabellian  theory,  the  Holy  Trinity 
is  thus  reduced  to  three  phases  or  manifestations 
of  one  substance.  In  the  Eutychian  class  of  heresies, 
the  continued  existence  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ 
is  denied,  or  considered  as  swallowed  up  and  ab- 
sorbed by  the  divine,  "  like  a  drop  of  honey  cast  into 
the  sea'l"  It  needs  some  little  stretch  of  thought 
to  see  the  real  bearing  of  these  heresies,  which  at 
first  sight  have  an  appearance  of  being  tolerable 
speculations  on  obscure  subjects.  But  a  short  re- 
flection will  shew  that  they  have  really  a  definite 
connection  with  false  principles  of  a  far-reaching 
and  practically  evil  tendency. 

Consider  first  how  Pantheism  is  encouraged  by  the 
Sabellian  theory,  which  makes  God  only  one  abso- 
lutely in  Himself,  and  threefold  merely  in  His  tem- 
poral manifestations.  It  takes  away  that  power  of 
conceiving  the  existence  of  God  apart  from  the  world, 
and  from  His  revelations  in  the  world,  which  the  true 
Trinitarian  doctrine  affords,  and  which  is  essential 
to  a  real  belief  in  His  personality.  For,  by  the 
help  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  as  explained 
by  the  Church,  we  are  able  to  conceive  of  God 
as  perfect  and  complete  in  Himself  from  eternity, 
and    as   wanting    nothing   for    His    display    or    de- 

22  This  comparison  is  attributed  to  the  Eutychian  speaker  in 
Theodoret's  Eranistes,  dial.  2  (ed.  Schulze,  iv.  p.  114).  Cp.  Cor- 
ner, Person  of  Christ,  E.  T.,  div.  ii.  vol.  i.  p.  84,  who  says  that, 
although  Eutyches  himself  may  not  have  used  this  simile,  "  yet 
no  comparison  of  the  view  as  set  forth  by  him,  can  be  more  relevant 
than  that  to  such  a  chemical  permeation  of  the  human  nature  by 
the  divine,  as  allowed  the  former  still  continuing  in  some  sense 
to  exist." 


II.]      Sdbellian  and  Eutychian  types  of  Heresy.         53 

Yelopment.  God  is  not  presented  to  us  as  exist- 
ing in.  cold  and  barren  isolation,  but  as  hav- 
ing a  fulness  and  blessedness  of  loving  relations 
within  His  own  nature.  The  Father  is  ever  truly 
Father,  because  He  sees  Himself  ever  reflected  in 
His  express  image  and  likeness  in  the  Divine  Son, 
and  there  never  was  a  time  when  the  Father  and 
the  Son  were  not  bound  together  by  the  co-operation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  "  searching  the  deep  things  of 
God"  (1  Cor.  ii.  10).  God,  then,  lay  under  no  ne- 
cessity to  create  the  world :  creation  added  nothing 
to  His  glory  or  His  blessedness.  But  to  the  Sa- 
bellian  all  this  is  otherwise.  To  him,  God  without 
the  world  is  an  undeveloped  monad,  to  whom  crea- 
tion is  a  necessary  act  of  self-unfolding,  and  to  whom 
the  universe  supplies  a  theatre  for  His  complete 
expansion  and  manifestation  ~^.  The  world  is  to  the 
Sabellian,  not  indeed  precisely  an  emanation  from 
God  in  the  Pantheistic  sense,  but  at  least  a  ne- 
cessary condition  of  His  development ;  and  God  is, 
therefore,  brought  under  the  dominion  of  an  im- 
personal principle,  or  fate,  superior  to  Himself.  The 
transition  from  this  to  Pantheism  is  very  easy,  as 
we  see  in  Schleiermacher  -^  and  some  who  follow  him. 

-^  On  the  pantheistic  tendencies  of  Sabellius,  op.  Dorner,  Doctrine 
of  the  Fersoti  of  Christ,  E.  T.  vol.  ii.  p.  157  ML,  and  pp.  288,  473. 
St.  Athanasius,  contra  Arianos,  iv.  11 — 14,  tries  to  fix  on  him  the 
doctrine  that  creation  is  a  self-evolution  of  the  Monas,  which  he 
compares  to  the  Stoic  '  expansion.' 

-^  On  the  Sabellian  leanings  of  Schleiermacher,  sec  IJeberweg, 
Hist,  of  Philosophy,  vol.  i.  p.  311,  E.  T.  On  his  anticipation  of 
Strauss,  and  admiration  of  Spinoza,  lb.,  ii.  pp.  248,  249,  e.g.  : 
"Offer  reverentially  with  me  a  lock  to  the  manes  of  the  holy, 
rejected  Spinoza  !     He  was  filled  with  the  lofty  world-spirit,  the 


54       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.     [Lect. 

To  the  Sabellian,  therefore,  God  is  not  so  much  a 
creator  as  a  generator,  or  producer;  and  the  world 
is  His  son  rather  than  His  creature,  brought  into 
being  because,  otherwise,  the  Divine  nature  would 
be  sterile  and  incomplete.  To  the  Christian,  on  the 
other  hand,  creation  is  an  act  of  pure  love,  and  the 
first  of  those  external  acts  of  love  which  make  God's 
other  acts  of  revelation  to  His  creatures  so  credible 
and  so  reasonable. 

The  Eutychian  or  Monophysite  class  of  heresies 
are  in  Christology  what  Sabellianism  is  in  theology 
proper,  they  confound  the  human  and  divine  natures 
of  the  Saviour,  just  as  that  confounds  the  persons  of 
the  blessed  Trinity.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  the  result 
of  this  insidious  mistake.  With  the  loss  of  the  hu- 
man nature,  the  life  of  Christ  readily  becomes  an 
idea  instead  of  a  fact,  a  myth  or  poem,  the  details  of 
which  may  be  as  unreal  as  those  of  the  romantic  life 
of  Buddha.  The  connection  of  this  heresy  with  the 
Pantheistic  school  is  self-evident,  and  the  example 
of  Strauss  may  shew  that  men,  who  begin  by  pro- 
fessing reverence  for  religion,  and  who  claim  to  be 
merely  seeking  to  discover  its  central  Idea  freed  from 
illusions  and  strained  from  foreign  matters,  may  end 
in  blank  atheism. 

Such  is  in  outline  the  character  of  the  pantheistic 

infinite  was  his  beginning  and  his  end  ;  the  universe  his  only  and 
eternal  love,"  &c,  Cp.  Pfleiderer,  Religions  philosophie,  pp.  115, 
foil.  (Berlin,  1878);  Dorner,  System  of  Chr.  Doct.,  i.  p.  401.  It 
may  be  remarked  that  the  Scotist  theory  of  the  Incarnation  may 
possibly  be  connected  with  Sabellian  tendencies.  But  the  drift 
of  Scotus'  philosophy  seems  rather  to  be  Deistie,  as  far  as  it  is 
exposed  to  criticism.     See  below,  p.  63. 


II.]         Anthropomorphic  Deism.    Secularism.  55 

side  of  heresy.  We  must  now  turn  to  its  opposite, 
anthrop9morphic  Deism,  and  to  the  allied  and  neigh- 
bouring forms  of  error.  While  Pantheism  practically 
ignores  the  will,  either  in  God  or  man,  and  confuses 
all  things  together.  Deism  gives  man  an  exaggerated 
independence,  and  discriminates  with  excessive  sharp- 
ness in  the  interests  of  human  Pride.  To  the  narrow, 
selfish  mind  of  the  Deist,  God  appears  chiefly  as  an 
enlarged  man,  and  as  a  being  to  be  kept  jealously  at 
a  distance.  He  is  regarded  not  only  as  distinct  from 
the  world,  but  as  outside  it.  He  is  not  only  supra- 
mundane,  but  extra-mundane.  He  is  the  Creator 
of  the  universe,  which  He  leaves  to  itself  without 
further  interference  on  His  part,  to  act  according  to 
the  Laws  of  INTature,  which  He  has  imposed.  Hence, 
to  the  Deist,  miracles,  though  not  theoretically  im- 
possible, are  not  to  be  expected ;  and  whatever  re- 
demption is  necessary,  is  left  to  man  to  work  out  for 
himself.  The  idea  of  the  Christian  revelation  is  ab- 
horrent to  him ;  all  that  man  requires,  in  his  opinion, 
is  to  use  his  natural  reason,  and  to  follow  the  teach- 
ing of  the  inward  light. 

Historically  speaking,  Deism  has  not  ,had  such 
a  definite,  systematic  existence  as  Pantheism.  It 
has  been  rather  a  hard  rust  or  canker,  hindering 
the  action  of  other  religions,  than  a  religion  in  it- 
self. Wherever  men  are  found  of  strong  powers  and 
nervous  energies,  especially  when  joined  to  a  cold 
temperament.  Deism  has  come  in  to  intensify  and 
deepen  the  gulf  between  God  and  man,  and  to  re- 
present His  relation  to  us  as  that  of  an  external  Law- 


56       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

giver,  rather  than  one  of  ever-present  and  ubiquitous 
contact.  In  cases  like  this,  the  feeling  of  God's 
grace  has  disappeared,  and  a  scheme  of  moral  duty 
has  been  erected  in  its  place,  which  man  is  declared 
capable  of  fulfilling  in  his  own  strength.  In  the 
higher  schools  of  Deism  this  law  of  conduct  is  re- 
garded as  divine,  though  communicated  to  man  only 
through  his  conscience,  or  by  the  agency  of  great 
human  teachers,  of  whom  our  Saviour  is  indeed  con- 
sidered the  best  and  greatest.  Hence  we  get  the 
various  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  establish 
religions  of  morality  without  a  creed,  and  Churches 
ruled  by  a  merely  human  order  and  discipline.  In 
the  lower  schools  of  Deism,  both  religion  and  reli- 
gious discipline  are  given  up,  and  morality  is  based 
simply  on  expediency,  with  considerable  deference 
to  the  will  of  the  stronger  and  of  the  majority,  and 
little  or  none  to  the  will  of  God.  The  descent  from 
this  to  the  democratic  secularism,  which  is  the  ideal 
of  so  many  of  our  working-men,  is  easy  enough  ;  and 
this  is  perhaps  the  most  imminent  danger  of  our 
own  age  and  country. 

Let  us  now,  in  pursuance  of  our  method,  refer  to 
some  of  the  manifestations  of  this  tendency  in  earlier 
times,  and  to  the  forms  of  it  which  gradually  ap- 
proach Christian  truth.  As  a  general  rule,  pre- 
Christian  religions  tended  to  polytheism,  pantheism, 
or  dualism.  There  is  one,  however,  which  is  an  ex- 
ception, and  which  presents  us  almost  with  pure 
Deism,  namely,  the  State  religion  of  China,  which 
we   sometimes   rather   inexactly    call   Confucianism. 


II.]  state  Religion  of  China.  57 

This  creed  recognizes  God  (Ti  or  Shang  Ti)-^  or 
Heaven  (Tien)  as  one  and  supreme,  but  removes 
Him  far  from  ordinary  life.  He  is  worshipped  pub- 
licly by  the  Emperor  alone  on  behalf  of  the  State, 
and  only  at  the  great  sacrifices  at  the  solstices  and 
the  beginning  of  spring  ^'^.  The  language  of  some 
of  the  prayers,  composed  for  this  service  about  the 
time  of  our  own  Eeformation,  has  recently  been 
quoted  by  a  well-known  authority,  and  is  too  remark- 
able to  be  passed  over.  Though  comparatively  re- 
cent, there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  them  other  than 
a  fair  representation  of  this  worship  at  a  much  ear- 
lier date.  I  venture  to  repeat  a  few  of  the  most 
striking  sentences  ^^"^ : — 

"Thou  hast  vouchsafed,  0  Ti,  to  hear  us,  for  thou  re- 
gardest  us  as  our  Father  .  .  .  ." 

"  When  Ti,  the  Lord,  had  so  decreed,  He  called  into  ex- 
istence the  three  powers  (heaven,  earth,  and  men).  Be- 
tween heaven  and  earth  He  separately  disposed  men  and 

^^  The  name  of  God  in  Chinese  has  been  a  fertile  subject  of  dis- 
pute among  missionaries.  But  the  practical  question  what  word 
should  be  used  in  modern  translations  of  the  Scripture  is  one  thing, 
and  that  of  the  meaning  to  be  attached  to  Ti  or  Shapg-Ti  in  the 
Chinese  Classics  is  another.  Supposing  Shang-Ti  to  be  now  the 
name  of  an  idol,  that  does  not  prove  that  it  was  not  originally  the 
name  of  God.  I  think  it  therefore  quite  safe  to  follow  Professors 
Legge  and  Max  Miiller  in  regard  to  the  old  religion,  without  en- 
tering upon  the  practical  question.  See  the  introduction  to  the 
Sacred  Boohs  of  China,  (Oxford,  1879). 

^^  A  detailed  description  of  these  services  is  given  by  Dr.  Ed- 
kins,  The  Religions  of  China,  chap.  ii.  entitled  '  Imperial  Worship ' 
(ed.  2,  Lond.,  1878).  There  are  at  present  separate  altars  for  the 
Spirits  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  but  this  was  not  the  original  inten- 
tion :  ibid.,  p.  29. 

"■^  Dr.  J.  Legge,  Religions  of  China,  pp.  47  foil.  (London,  1880). 


58       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.     [Lect. 

things,  all  overspread  by  the  heavens.  I,  His  small  ser- 
vant, beg  His  (favouring)  decree  to  enlighten  me  His  vassal; 
so  may  I  for  ever  appear  before  Him  in  the  empyrean." 

And  again : — 

"  The  service  of  song  is  completed,  but  our  poor  sincerity 
cannot  be  fully  expressed.  Thy  sovereign  goodness  is  in- 
finite. As  a  potter  hast  Thou  made  all  living  things.  Great 
and  small  are  curtained  round  (by  Thee  from  heaven).  As 
engraven  on  the  heart  of  Thy  poor  sei'vant  is  the  sense  of 
Thy  goodness,  but  my  feeling  cannot  be  fully  displayed. 
With  great  kindness  Thou  dost  bear  with  us,  and  notwith- 
standing our  demerits,  dost  grant  us  life  and  prosperity  ^," 

There  is  a  grave  and  manly  tone  about  these 
prayers,  which  seems  the  expression  of  sincere  feel- 
ing, though  even  in  its  highest  utterances  we  may 
detect  a  want  of  enthusiasm.  But  the  great  defect 
is  the  rarity  of  the  service  of  the  God  who  is  so 
highly  honoured,  and  the  absence  of  anything  like 
a  continuous  impulse  to  communion  with  Him.  The 
people  know  nothing  of  Him,  except  in  the  vague 
references  to  heaven  in  their  life  and  conversation  ~^ 
Confucius  himself  avoided  using  the  personal  name 
of  God  ^^^  and  the  ordinary  worship  of  this  religion 
is  that  of  a  multitude  of  celestial  and  terrestrial 
spirits  and  departed  ancestors,  including  Confu- 
cius  himself.      These   beings   are   arranged    in   de- 

28  J.  Legge,  Religions  of  China,  pp.  49,  50.  ^^  Ibid., 

pp.  251,  252. 

20  Ibid.,  p.  139.  In  his  Life  mid  Teaching  of  Confucius,  p.  100, 
ed.  3, 1872,  Dr.  Legge  says : — "  I  would  say  that  he  was  unreligious 
rather  than  irreligious  :  yet  by  the  coldness  of  his  temperament 
and  intellect  in  this  matter,  his  influence  is  unfavourable  to  the 
development  of  true  religious  feeling  among  the  Chinese  people 


II.]  state  Religion  of  China.  59 

partments  and  offices  like  Ministers  of  State,  and 
stand  ketween  the  people  and  the  sovereign  God, 
very  much  as  local  officials  do  between  the  provin- 
cials and  the  unseen  Emperor.  Further,  the  Chi- 
nese sacred  books  are  not  supposed  to  be  inspired, 
or  to  contain  the  record  of  a  revelation,  in  the  way 
that  those  of  other  nations  are  said  to  be  and  to 
do  ^^  Nor  is  there  anything  like  the  usual  feeling 
of  the  guilt  of  sin  or  of  the  need  of  sacrifice  and 
atonement,  expressed  in  them,  though  these  ideas  are 
not  absolutely  wanting.  And  hence  follows  that  self- 
satisfaction  and  want  of  sensibility  to  supernatural 
life,  to  break  down  which  is  found  so  hard  a  task 
by  Christian  missionaries.  Yet  the  character  of  the 
Chinese  is  by  no  means  so  wanting  in  mobility  as 
we  are  sometimes  prone  to  believe.  The  rational 
State-religion  shares  its  claims  upon  their  allegiance 
in  common  with  Taoist  and  Buddhist  superstition, 
both  of  which  in  great  measure  owe  their  success 
to  the  revolt  of  human  nature  against  the  coldness 
of  the  older  creed.  We  cannot  doubt,  then,  that 
China  will  one  day  become  Christian.  May  God 
grant  that  some  of  ourselves  may  be  instrumental 
to  her  conversion ! 

This  great  people,  as  we  have  said,  forms  the  ex- 
ception to  the  general  character  of  heathenism.  But 
if  China  is  the  only  pre-Christian  nation  with  a  really 

generally,  and  lie  prepared  the  way  for  the  speculations  of  the 
literati  of  medieval  and  modern  times,  which  have  exposed  them 
to  the  charge  of  atheism." 

^'  J.  Legge,  The  Sacred  Boohs  of  China,  part  i.  p.  xv.  (Oxford, 
1879). 


60      BiUical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

deistic  religion,  all  stronger  and  more  progressive 
nations  have  shewn  a  large  infusion  of  deistic  feel- 
ings. This  is  the  case,  for  instance,  in  the  philo- 
sophy of  Aristotle,  and  the  Stoics  in  Greece  and  in 
the  Eoman  empire.  With  all  their  differences  of 
detail,  they  agree  in  assuming  the  law  of  duty,  and 
the  ability  of  man  to  fulfil  it  in  his  own  strength. 
No  one  can  read  the  description  of  Aristotle's  cha- 
racters, or  those  of  the  ideal  Stoic  and  Cynic  in  Se- 
neca and  Epictetus,  without  feeling  that  we  are  in 
a  very  different  atmosphere  from  that  of  Hindu  pan- 
theism. The  conceptions  of  a  law  of  nature  and  of 
nations,  of  a  hero,  of  the  typical  good  man,  of  the 
typical  wise  man,  of  virtue  as  a  habit  of  moral  choice, 
the  doctrine  of  the  mean,  of  the  limitation  of  know- 
ledge to  what  is  in  our  power  to  know,  in  fact,  all 
the  furniture  of  the  Aristotelian  and  the  Stoic  moral 
philosophy,  is  deistic,  though  it  is  grafted  on  a  re- 
ligious theory  which  is  technically  of  another  kind. 

This  tendency  of  the  philosophy  of  the  great  Euro- 
pean nations  aided,  it  would  seem,  in  bringing  about 
a  partial  fusion  of  deistic  principles  with  Jewish  and 
Christian  monotheism,  especially  in  certain  schools. 
The  connection  of  Judaism  with  Stoicism  ^^  is  obscure, 
and  its  exact  bearings  can  perhaps  never  be  fully 
known.  There  is  not  sufficient  material  to  define  pre- 
cisely which  was  the  borrower  and  which  the  lender. 

3-  Josephus,  Life,  §  2,  compares  the  Pharisees  to  the  Stoics. 
[Bp.]  Lightfoot  in  his  essay  on  St.  Paul  and  Seneca  {Philippians, 
p.  297),  calls  attention  to  the  Eastern  and  Semitic  origin  of  Sto- 
icism, and  believes  that  some  of  the  coincidences  of  language  be- 
tween Seneca  and  the  New  Testament  '^  can  hardly  be  considered 
accidental." 


II.]     Religion  of  China.  Aristotle  and  the  Stoics.       61 

It  is,  however,  I  believe,  indubitable  that  the  later 
Stoics  were  influenced  by  Jewish  and  even  Chris- 
tian ideas,  if  not  by  direct  contact,  at  any  rate  by 
that  subtle  infiltration  of  thought  which  makes  con- 
temporaries sympathetic  without  conscious  communi- 
cation. More  obvious,  however,  is  the  Deistic  in- 
fluence of  certain  Jewish  schools  in  the  Christian 
Church.  Amongst  the  Pharisees  the  Mosaic  law, 
which  was  intended  to  break  the  neck  of  Pride,  was 
perverted  into  an  instrument  of  Pride.  The  com- 
mand, "  This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live,"  was  twisted 
into  an  assumption  that  man  was  able  in  his  own 
strength  to  work  out  his  own  salvation.  The  Phari- 
sees looked  upon  God  as  a  Being  whose  only  relation 
to  themselves  was  a  formal  one,  who  could  be  treated 
as  fully  known  and  accounted  for,  who  could  be 
cheated  with  subterfuges  like  that  of  Korban,  and 
so  be  practically  left  out  of  consideration.  They 
could  reckon  up  their  duty  to  Him  as  to  a  man, 
and  so  eliminate  all  mystery  from  religion.  Hence 
they  shrank  from  any  further  revelation,  and  pre- 
ferred to  treat  our  Saviour  as  an  impostor  and  de- 
ceiver of  the  people ;  or,  if  they  were  to  ,some  ex- 
tent attracted  by  His  presence,  they  wished  to  lay 
down  the  terms  of  miraculous  evidence  on  which 
they  would  consent  to  believe.  The  Pharisees  asked 
for  a  sign,  somewhat  in  the  spirit  which  now  requires 
that  a  miracle  should  be  performed  in  London  or 
Paris,  such  as  would  satisfy  the  tests  of  a  commission 
of  scientific  men  ^^.     Their  opponents,  the  Sadducees, 

^  Cp.  Renan,  Les  Apotres,  p.  xliv.  ed.  1,  1866;  "  Un  miracle 
a  Paris,  devant  des  savants  competents,   mettrait  fin  h.  tant  de 


62       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

to  whose  sect  the  chief-priests  belonged,  went  even 
farther  in  their  contempt  ^^;  and  having  made  up 
their  minds  that  a  miracle  was  out  of  the  question, 
openly  mocked  the  Crucified,  and  called  upon  Him 
to  come  down  from  the  Cross.  In  them,  Deism  led 
to  mere  brutality. 

Such  was  the  wretched  condition  of  those  who 
professed  themselves  heirs  of  the  faith  of  Abraham 
and  Moses.  Such,  too,  is  the  influence  of  Deism 
in  other  places.  If  we  trace  the  working  of  this 
spirit  through  the  centuries  behind  us,  we  shall  find 
it  everywhere  shewing  an  abhorrence  of  mystery, 
deifying  common  sense,  and  rationalizing  away  every- 
thing that  can  wound  human  self-satisfaction.  Out- 
side the  Church,  it  has  had  immense  power  in  form- 
ing the  eclectic  religion  of  Mahomet,  which  is  above 
all  things  a  religion  of  Pride  and  of  formal  works, 
though  its  doctrine  of  divine  decrees,  when  interpret- 
ed in  a  fatalistic  and  necessarian  sense,  gives  it  a  Pan- 
theistic impulse  which  has  been  developed  in  Sufiism^^ 

doutes!  Mais,  helas !  voila  ce  qui  n'arrive  jamais."  In  censur- 
ing such  a  sentiment,  we  must  not  forget  the  provocation  given 
by  the  pious  frauds  and  credulities  of  some  modern  popular 
shrines  in  France. 

^*  It  is  a  mistake  to  confuse  the  attitude  of  the  Pharisees  and  the 
Sadducees  to  our  Lord  and  to  miracles,  though  this  is  often  uncon- 
sciously done.  The  contrast  between  them  appears,  e.g.,  in  the 
case  of  Nicodemus,  and  in  the  different  conduct  of  the  two  parties 
in  the  Sanhedrim.     (Cp.Westcott  on  John  xi.  46 — 49,  xii.  19.) 

2^  On  the  Divine  decrees  (Taqdi'r),  see  T.  P.  Hughes,  Notes  on 
Muhammadanism,  p.  98,  ed.  2,  Lond.  1877.  On  Sufiism,  or  Mysti- 
cism, which  teaches  that  God  "is  in  all  things,  and  all  things  in 
Him,  and  all  created  beings  visible  and  invisible  are  an  emanation 
from  God,  and  not  really  distinct  from  Him,"  see  ibid.  pp.  227  foil. 
The  doctrine  of  Divine  decrees  has,  however,  a  deistic  side  (when 


II.]  The  Jewish  Sects.     Islam.  C3 

But  in  the  Koran,  the  character  of  God  is  chiefly  an 
extension  of  that  of  man,  and,  as  has  been  well  ob- 
served ^'^j  it  has  "raised  a  notion  of  the  Supreme 
Being  which  is  rather  an  extension  of  the  large- 
minded    and   sagacious  man  of  the  world,   than  an 

extension   of  man's  virtue   and  holiness Such 

a  man  is  indulgent  as  a  simple  consequence  of  his 
knowledge,  because  nothing  surprises  him.  So  the 
God  of  Mahomet  forgives  by  reason  of  his  vast 
knowledge." 

Inside  the  Church,  this  deistic  spirit  is  found  domi- 
nating many  heresies.  We  find  it  in  the  Arian  and 
Macedonian  conceptions  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  in 
the  ruder  Ebionite  Christology  and  the  more  plausible 
speculations  of  l!lestorius,  and  in  their  revival  in 
Spanish  Adoptionism.  We  find  it  germinant  in 
the  Antiochene  school  of  biblical  interpretation,  and 
bursting  out  again  and  again  in  Pelagian  self-suffici- 
ency in  morals.  It  meets  us  in  Abelard,  and,  to  some 
extent,  in  Duns  Scotus  ^''  amongst  the  schoolmen,  and 
in  Socinus,  Zwinglius,  and  perhaps  Arminius  amongst 
the  reformers.  It  startles  us  in  the  strangely  ex- 
as^serated  cultus  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  ^^  in  the  Church 


"OO" 


tliey  are  interpreted  as  arbitrary  motions  of  God's  will),  as  we  see 
in  the  theology  of  Duns  Scotus.  Cp.  Dorner,  System  of  Chr.  Bod., 
i,  pp.  428— 431. 

2*^  Mozley,  Bampton  Lectures  on  Miracles,  Lect.  VII.,  p.  142, 
ed.  3,  1872. 

^■^  Ueberweg,  Eist.  of  Philosophy,  i.  p.  456  bottom,  E.  T.,  (Lond., 
1872).  Cp.  Dorner,  Person  of  Christ,  div.  2.  vol.  i.  pp.  342—346, 
for  the  Adoptionist  leanings  of  Scotus,  and  their  connection  with 
Mariolatry ;  and  ihid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  260  foil.,  for  his  position  as  a  pre- 
cursor of  Socinianism. 

^*    Dr.  Newman,  in  his  Essay  oti  the  Bevelopment  of  Christian 


64       Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God.      [Lect. 

of  Eome,  in  the  erection  of  the  pope  into  an  idol,  and 
in  the  whole  formal  system  of  morals  which  has  weak- 
ened that  Church  so  much  in  the  eyes  of  thought- 
ful men.  It  lays  a  heavy  grasp  upon  English  thought, 
first  in  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury  and  in  Thomas 
Hobbes,  and  then  in  the  band  of  eighteenth-century 
writers,  who  are  generally,  but  somewhat  loosely, 
called  the  Deists.  It  hardens  the  theology  of  the 
orthodox,  and  drives  popular  religion  into  a  fanatic 
and  pietistic  reaction.  It  becomes  popular  and  prac- 
tically powerful  in  Voltaire,  and  in  the  revolution- 
ists that  followed  him,  and  professorial  in  the  Ger- 
man school  of  rationalists.  It  confronts  us  in  our 
own  day  in  that  destructive  criticism  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  is  specially  the  creation  of  Baur 
and  his  associates  in  the  school  of  Tiibingen — criti- 
cism which  is  sometimes  acute  and  vigorous,  but 
more  often  captious  and  unhistorical ;  and  it  insin- 
uates itself,  with  yet  more  intolerable  self-confidence, 
in  the  highly-varnished  romances  of  the  French  aca- 
demician, who,  with  the  false  courage  of  the  study, 
dares  to  patronize  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  ^^ 

Doctrine  (p.  405,  ed.  1),  made  a  strong  point  of  the  cultus  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  taking  the  place  of  Arianism.  The  fact  is  probable ; 
but  it  is  surely  to  be  interpreted  in  a  sense  very  widely  different 
from  that  in  which  he  took  it.  Indeed,  to  an  ordinary  mind,  this 
part  of  the  Essay  seems  to  tell  astonishingly  against  the  general 
argument  of  the  author,  and  to  shew  the  great  danger  of  a  corrupt 
development,  when  theology  follows  a  mere  popular  instinct.  Cp. 
Dr.  Mozley's  criticism  in  his  article  on  The  Theory  of  Bevelop- 
ment  (pp.  53 — 73,  reprinted  in  1878  from  the  Christian  Eemem- 
hrancer  of  Jan.,  1847,  vol.  xiii.  p.  154  foil.). 

^^  M.  Kenan  might,  perhaps,  seem  to  some  to  belong  rather  to 
the  pantheistic  side.     He  talks  of  the  **  Pere  celeste"  in  the  same 


II.]  Deistic  types  of  Heresy.  65 

Time  would  fail  us  to  speak  in  any  detail  of  these 
various  movements  of  thought ;  but  I  would  venture 
to  impress  upon  you  the  great  value  of  a  connected 
study  of  such  things.  When,  for  example,  we  treat 
Nestorianism  and  Pelagianism  side  by  side,  then  we 
understand  why  the  condemnation  of  Nestorius  was 
necessary,  at  once  as  a  dogmatist  who  did  not  rightly 
apprehend  the  Creed,  and  as  a  moralist,  who  gave 
countenance  and  support  to  those  who  exaggerated 
human  independence,  and  depreciated  the  marvels 
of  Divine  grace ''°.  Or  again,  when  we  find  deistical 
writers,  like  Hobbes,  making  a  strong  point  of  prov- 
ing the  late  date  and  unauthentic  character  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible,  we  learn  the  animus  and  ten- 
dency of  much  modern  criticism  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, and  have  some  reason  to  suspect  it  of  preju- 

breath  as  he  says,  "la  terre  est  une  bonne  mere"  {Les  Apotres, 
p.  Ixi.  ed.  1,  1866).  In  him  the  influence  of  Strauss  and  the 
Hegelian  "left"  coalesces  with  that  of  Baur ;  but  his  attempt  to 
reduce  our  Lord  to  a  position  purely  within  the  lines  of  human 
history,  leads  me  to  rank  him  in  this  place  with  the  Deists.  "We 
find  the  same  combination  of  different  heretical  positions,  as  early 
as  the  time  of  Cerinthus;  and  there  is,  I  believe,  nowadays  an 
increasing  tendency  to  unite  an  Ebionitic,  or  purely  humanitarian 
conception  of  "the  life  of  Jesus,"  with  a  Docetic  lor  ideal  Chris- 
tology.    Cp.  Dorner,  System  of  Chr.  Doctrine,  i.  p.  415,  note. 

^°  The  relation  of  these  heresies  is  put  very  powerfully  in  an 
article  on  Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  and  Modern  Thought,  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  Church  Quarterly  Eeview.  This  valuable  paper  [by 
my  friend,  Dr.  L.  G.  Mylne,  Bp.  of  Bombay,  then  a  Tutor  of  Keble 
CoUege]  was  one  of  the  fruits  of  Dr.  Mozley's  work  as  Professor 
with  a  class  of  Graduates,  who  used  to  meet  on  Monday  afternoons 
at  his  lodgings  in  Christ  Church.  Those  who  formed  this  class 
read  papers  of  their  own  in  the  Summer  Term.  In  the  other 
Terms,  he  gave  us  lectures  of  his  own  on  Old  Testament  History 
(since  published),  and  on  St.  Augustine. 
P 


66         Biblical  Theism  and  other  Ideas  of  God,   [Lect, 

dice,  even  though  the  prejudice  may  be  unconscious. 
Members  of  that  school,  at  least,  which  makes  so 
much  use  of  the  argument  of  dogmatic  preposses- 
sion in  order  to  throw  doubt  upon  the  character  and 
truthfulness  of  what  we  hold  to  be  the  inspired 
Scriptures,  cannot  wonder  if  we  apply  the  same  test 
to  themselves,  and  learn  to  doubt  the  absolute  scien- 
tific impartiality  of  their  methods,  when  we  find  them 
deeply  imbued  with  the  deistic  dislike  of  revelation. 

These  are  merely  instances  of  the  manner  in  which 
a  connected  historical  review  of  doctrines  may  help 
to  confirm  faith.  For  any  one  who  has  once  tho- 
roughly perceived  the  intellectual  obliquity,  the  one- 
sidedness,  and  the  deterioration  of  character,  to  which 
both  Deism  and  Pantheism  lead,  will  not  hesitate  to 
turn  away  from  anything  which  can  be  seen  to  tend, 
even  remotely,  to  either  of  them.  If  a  man  will  but 
make  up  his  mind  not  to  drift  in  questions  of  re- 
ligion, but  to  make  his  belief  a  matter  of  deliberate 
moral  choice,  founded  on  a  comparison  both  of  prin- 
ciples and  results,  he  will  certainly  choose  that  re- 
ligion which  gives  the  fullest  satisfaction  and  exer- 
cise to  all  his  powers.  He  will  determine  not  to  be 
one-sided,  not  to  yield  to  the  pressure  of  inclination 
or  mental  habit,  but  with  the  help  of  God's  grace  to 
form  of  himself  a  full-grown,  complete,  and,  in  the 
Biblical  phrase,  a  perfect  man.  And,  without  doubt, 
the  foundation  of  this  completeness  is  to  be  found 
in  the  truth  revealed  to  Moses.  For  that  truth  makes 
known  to  us  a  God  who  is  omnipresent  and  universal 
in  His  activity,  whose  grace  touches  and  sustains  us 
at  every  point,  who  is  at  once  by  His  power  in  the 


II.]  Beligion  a  matter  of  Moral  Choice.  67 

grain  of  dust  at  our  feet  and  in  the  immeasurable 
grandeur  and  distance  of  the  stars,  in  the  stillness 
of  the  everlasting  hills  and  in  our  own  beating  hearts. 
It  teaches  us  also  of  One  who  is  the  Author  of  law 
and  order,  who  imposes  a  limit  even  upon  Himself 
in  His  revelations,  who  does  nothing  arbitrarily,  ac- 
cidentally, or  unreasonably,  and  who  wills  that  His 
creatures  should  feel  themselves  free  even  in  His 
awful  presence. 


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69 


LECTURE   III. 


ACTS  xvii.  24,  26,  27. 

God  that  made  the  tvorld  and  all  things  tlicrein,  ....  hath 
.  made  of  one  hlood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before 
appointed,  and  the  hounds  of  their  habitation;  that  they 
should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him, 
and  find  Him,  though  He  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us. 


THE   NATUEAL  EXPECTATION   OF  DIVINE   TEUTH,   AND 

THE   CONFESSION   OF   HUMAN   INCAPACITY 

OF  ATTAINING   TO   IT. 

Innate  Passion  for  Truth. — Non -Christian  religious  systems  to  be 
approached  with  sj-mpathy  and  reverence.  (1.)  God  speaking 
in  the  voices  of  nature. — Thunder. — Wind. — The  Sea,  &c. — 
Light. — Profound  character  of  Vedic  Gods, — Apollo  and  Delphi. 
— Socrates.  (2.)  God  revealed  in  human  forms. — Heroes. — 
Kingly  Incarnations. — Greece. — Mexico. — Scandinavia  — Egypt. 
— China. — Rome. — Avatars. — Krishna. — Baddha.  (3.)  Sacred 
books  :  Avesta. — Vedas. — High  idea  of  Inspiration. 

Shortcomings  of  these  revelations  confessed  by  the  heathen  them- 
selves :  Plato.  —  Cicero.  —  Seneca. — Porphyry.  —  The  poets. — 
God,  who  gave  much,  withheld  His  best  gift  of  rest. 

rpHE  one  blood  of  all  nations,  the  unity  of  the 
human  race,  of  which  St.  Paul  spoke  so  stir- 
ringly before  the  Athenian  people,  is  no  abstraction 
of  philosophy  or  theology.  It  is  a  fact,  which 
meets  us  wherever  we  turn ;  and  not  least  in 
that  universal  eagerness  for  knowledge  to  which 
the   great   heathen   teacher   testifies  :     "  All   men " 


70     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect- 

(it  is  confessed)  "by  nature  desire  knowledge \" 
This  desire  may  aim  high  or  low ;  it  may  be  a 
generous  ardour,  or  a  mere  curiosity ;  but  all  men 
have  it  in  some  form.  To  possess  the  truth  gives 
us  something  to  build  upon;  we  reach  down  to 
the  solid  substance  of  things ;  (to  speak  reverently) 
we  touch  and  find  the  eternal  God. 

This  thought  explains  why  there  is  so  much  of 
passion  aroused  by  disputes  respecting  truth  and 
falsehood.  "We  are  like  people  battling  for  stand- 
ing-ground on  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  waters ; 
and  if  our  neighbours  deceive  us,  they  push  us 
back,  as  it  were,  into  the  ocean  of  uncertainty. 
And  so,  from  childhood  onwards,  we  ask  with  eager 
anxiety,  "Is  it  true?";  we  vehemently  denounce 
a  supposed  liar  as  one  who  defrauds  us  of  our  rights ; 
and  we  are  feverishly  desirous  of  knowing  anything 
that  is  purposely  concealed  from  us,  even  when  it 
is  probably  of  small  importance. 

Much  more  are  we  roused  if  the  mystery  is  one 
which  specially  affects  our  profession,  or  our  pros- 
pects in  life.  Such  enquiries  produce  a  stir  in  the 
blood,  and  a  sleepless  excitement,  quite  unique  in 
the  scale  of  human  feelings ;  and  disappointment 
in  the  pursuit  is  allowed  to  be,  of  all  others,  per- 
haps the  most  bitter.  But  nowhere  is  this  feeling 
of  desire  for  truth  so  universally  active  as  in  what 
we  more  definitely  call  religion.  For  nothing  ob- 
viously so  much  concerns  us  (when  once  we  are 
roused  to  perceive  it)   as  religious  truth ;  and   our 

^  Aristotle,  Metaphysics,  opening  sentence. 


III.]  Men  drawn  totvards  God.  71 

desire  to  know  it  is  always  stimulated  by  a  sense 
of  my-stery  and  concealment.  For  religion  does 
not,  like  philosophy,  display  to  us  an  abstract  rela- 
tion of  the  finite  to  the  infinite,  but  a  personal 
relation  of  man  to  God,  of  finite  man  to  the  In- 
finite and  Personal  God.  No  relation,  it  is  clear, 
can  be  so  important,  or  so  wonderful  as  this.  Even 
in  human  relationships  there  is  a  strange  indefinable 
mystery,  a  natural  drawing  and  passing  of  soul  to- 
wards soul,  wondrous  as  the  way  of  a  bird  through 
the  air,  or  of  a  serpent  on  the  rock ;  how  much 
more  when  we  are  pressing  forward  to  know  our 
Maker  and  our  Judge,  and  our  own  eternal  con- 
dition in  regard  to  Him  ! 

The  object,  then,  of  the  present  Lecture  is,  in  the 
first  place,  to  put  before  our  eyes  a  faithful  picture 
of  the  way  in  which  the  nations  of  the  world — whose 
times  God  has  allotted,  and  whose  bounds  He  has 
set — have  experienced  this  mysterious  drawing  to- 
wards Him,  and  have  felt,  as  it  were,  with  their 
hands,  after  Him,  and  not  all  in  vain  have  sought 
to  find  Him.  Yet  if  we  listen  attentively,  we 
shall  hear  a  sad  epilogue  to  all  the^e  strivings, 
a  confession  wrung  with  tears  from  many  noble 
souls,  that  what  they  found  did  not  satisfy  the 
tests  which  truth  should  satisfy,  that  the  living  rock 
was  not  reached,  that  God  was  not  clearly  known. 
Such  will  be  the  argument  before  us  this  morning. 
In  the  next  Lecture,  we  shall  endeavour,  with  God's 
grace,  to  shew  that  the  truth  which  the  heathen 
looked  for  with  such  ill  -  success  has  been  found 
in  the  creed  of  Christendom;    at  any  rate,  that  it 


72     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

bears   upon   it   the   marks    which,    to    a   reasonable 
mind,  religious  truth  would  and  should  bear. 

Our  first  thesis,  that  man  naturally  considers 
God  as  his  teacher  and  guide,  is  capable  of  almost 
endless  illustration.  We  see  it  most  simply,  per- 
haps, in  the  revelations  which  men  have  drawn 
from  external  nature,  from  signs  and  omens  and 
sacrifices,  from  oracles  and  divinations;  we  find  it 
taking  another  shape  in  the  belief  in  incarnations 
of  the  deity,  and  the  help  afforded  by  Gods  and 
sons  of  Gods  come  down  in  the  likeness  of  men; 
and  lastly,  we  perceive  it  in  its  most  powerful  and 
permanent  form,  in  the  inspiration  attributed  to 
particular  books  and  writings.  On  all  these  topics 
you  may  naturally  expect  some  details. 

But,  before  entering  upon  them,  I  would  call 
your  attention  to  one  necessary  caution.  Let  us, 
when  considering  these  phenomena,  remember  that 
the  study  of  their  so-called  origin  is  one  thing, 
and  a  right  estimate  of  their  religious  value  an- 
other. It  is  at  present  far  too  common  a  habit 
of  mind  to  be  satisfied  with  tracing  out  the  con- 
ditions and  circumstances  under  which  a  belief  or 
a  religious  custom  arises  in  the  world.  Some  men 
exhaust  themselves  in  classifying  the  phenomena  of 
religion  under  this  or  that  heading  of  myth  or 
symbol.  They  are  careful,  for  instance,  to  assign 
their  due  influence  to  fetishism  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  animism  on  the  other ;  they  distinguish  the  va- 
rious phases  of  belief  in  God,  and  the  growing  per- 
ceptions with  which  it  is  accompanied;  they  have 
carefully   framed   theories   of  prayer   and   sacrifice ; 


III.]       Heathen  Beliefs  to  he  treated  reverently.        73 

they  trace  the  steps  by  which  the  self-regarding 
morality  of  the  family  or  tribe  rises  to  a  feeling  of 
universal  duty.  But,  when  they  have  done  all  this 
useful  work  —  and  very  useful  and  necessary  it  is 
— they  are  in  danger,  and  leave  their  readers  in 
danger,  of  tacitly  assuming  that  the  subject  is  closed, 
and  that  religion  is  a  natural  development,  out  of 
which  the  positive  action  of  God,  as  a  real  existing 
Being,  is  excluded.  Their  mouths  are  full  of  the 
various  ways  in  which  other  men  have  thought  of 
God,  but  He  Himself  is  far  from  their  own  thoughts. 
His  Name  is  constantly  on  their  lips,  but  some  of 
them  would  know  more  of  Him  in  reality,  if  they 
were  "  pagans  suckled  in  a  creed  outworn." 

Let  us,  at  any  rate,  as  Christians  (which  should 
be,  amongst  other  things,  equal  to  saying  'as  rea- 
sonable men'),  let  us,  I  say,  avoid  this  folly.  We 
cannot  be  content  with  a  mere  museum  of  religious 
beliefs,  however  scientifically  arranged,  and  grateful 
as  we  must  be  to  those  who  have  toiled  so  patiently 
to  fill  it.  To  us  Christians  the  religion  of  hea- 
thenism is  rather  a  mysterious,  half-ruined  temple  ; 
and  one  in  which  it  is  more  meet  to  fa»ll  down  and 
worship,  than  to  wander  unawed  and  unabashed, 
noting  each  column  and  capital,  each  change  of  style 
and  variation  of  artistic  finish,  without  thinking  of 
Him  for  whose  glory  it  was  reared. 

1.  Such  a  caution  as  this  may  enable  us  rightly 
and  reverently  to  pass  on  to  a  study  of  those  his- 
torical facts,  which  otherwise  might  seem  a  mass 
of  even  ridiculous  superstitions.  First  of  all  then,  let 
us  say  a  few  words  on  the  consciousness  of  God's  pre- 


74     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

sence,  which  has  been  roused  in  men  by  the  voices 
of  nature.  Who  does  not  feel  instinctively  with 
David,  when  he  cries  out:  "It  is  the  Lord  that 
commandeth  the  waters  :  it  is  the  glorious  God  that 
maketh  the  thunder.  It  is  the  Lord  that  ruleth 
the  sea;  the  voice  of  the  Lord  is  mighty  in  oper- 
ation, the  voice  of  the  Lord  is  a  glorious  voice"  ? 
(Ps.  xxix.  3,  4,  P.-B.  V.) 

So,  also,  our  ancient  Aryan  forefathers  seemed 
to  hear  the  heavy  rolling  of  the  chariot-wheels  of 
Indra^,  of  Zeus,  or  of  Thor^,  and  were  solemnized 
at  his  presence,  as  he  drew  near  to  visit  or  to 
judge  them.  And  the  Hindus  especially  connected 
this  feeling  of  awe  with  faith.  The  old  Yedic  poet 
exclaims,  ''  Men  have  faith  in  the  fiery  Indra,  when 
he  hurls  again  and  again  his  destroying  thunder- 
bolt;" and  once  more,  as  he  pours  his  solemn  liba- 
tion, the  worshipper  cries,  "Poured  out  with  holy 
words,  with  truth,  with  faith,  with  austere  fervour, 
0  Soma,  flow  for  Indra  ^" 

It  was  but  a  step  further  to  read  in  these  thunder- 
ings  and  lightnings  a  voice  intended  to  guide  and 
reprove,  and  to  construct  something  of  that  theory 
of  auspices  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  classical 
writers.  The  oldest  oracle  of  Greece,  that  of  Dodona, 
was  perhaps  originally  a  thunder- oracle,  though  in- 
timations of  the  Divine  will  were  sought  in  histori- 
cal times  in  the  whispering  oak-leaves,  and  in  other 

=>  Muir's  SansJcrit  Texts,  v.  p.  84  foU. 

^  Grimm,  Teutonic'Mijtlwlogy,  tr.  by  Stallybrass  (Lond.,  1880), 
i.  p.  166,  foil. 

*  Muir,  v.,  pp.  103,  104;  Rig-Veda,  i.  55,  5 ;  ix.  113,  2. 


III.]        God  speaJcing  in  the  Voices  of  Nature.  75 

ways  ^  But  above  all  was  regard  paid  to  such  things 
in  Italy,  and  the  most  practical  people  of  antiquity 
dissolved  their  public  assemblies  when  Jove  thun- 
dered and  lightened. 

All  the  elemental  forces,  in  fact,  seemed  to  man- 
kind to  be  instruments  of  Divine  speech.  To  the 
Chaldeans,  on  their  broad  and  featureless  alluvial 
plain,  the  orbs  of  heaven — with  their  intricate  mo- 
tions and  varied  brilliancy,  ruling  hours,  days  and 
months  in  their  course — seemed  palpably  and  above 
all  other  powers  to  proclaim  the  will  of  Heaven. 
To  our  Aryan  forefathers,  the  ruder  and  less  for- 
mal elements  of  nature  seemed  more  vocal  to  the 
wise  than  the  single  points  of  light. 

Thus  the  wind  is  addressed  in  the  Yedas  as  the 
''Breath  of  the  Gods  and  germ  of  the  universe, 
the  God  who  moves  as  he  lists,  whose  voices  we 
hear,  though  his  form  is  not  seen^"  The  roar- 
ing mysterious  sea  was  the  home  of  many  oracu- 
lar deities,  Nereus,  Proteus,  Glaucus,  and  the  like. 
In  India  the  Eiver  Goddess  is  also  the  Goddess 
of  Speech ;  and  in  the  great  Epic  (Mahabharata) 
she  is  called  "the  mother  of  the  Ye^as,"  and  is 
invoked  as  a  muse^.  In  Greece,  too,  the  water- 
nymphs  are  supposed  to  seize  men  and  inspire  them 
with  a  sort  of  frenzied  gift  of  prophecy.    Fire,  again, 

*  F.  "W.  Myers,  on  Greek  Oracles,  in  Hellenica,  p.  440,  (Riving- 
tons,  1880).  They  are  more  fully  described  by  C.  Carapanos, 
Dodone  et  ses  Buines,  pp.  164  foil.  (Paris,  1878). 

*  From  the  Vedic  hymn  to  Vata  the  Blest,  Rig-Veda,  x.  168. 
Cp.  Max  Miiller,  Hihhert  Lectures,  p.  210;  Muir,  vol.  v.  p.  146. 

">  Muir,  1.  c.  p.  342.  Sarasvati  was  identified  with  Vach  in 
the  later  mythology. 


76      The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

was  conceived  as  the  messenger  of  the  Gods,  and  its 
motions,  especially  in  sacrifice,  were  held  to  be  of  the 
highest  value  in  the  ancient  arts  of  divination  ^.  The 
Hindu  personification  of  fire  —  Agni  —  is  specially 
striking,  and  is  in  many  respects  like  the  Greek 
Prometheus  ^,  only  at  an  earlier  stage  of  mythology. 
He  is  the  sage,  the  divinest  among  sages,  who  recti- 
fies all  mistakes  and  teaches  men  the  rules  of  worship. 
He  conveys  to  the  Gods  the  hymns  and  sacrifices, 
and  summons  them  to  meet  their  worshippers ;  and 
yet  he  lives  as  a  kinsman  and  friend  in  the  midst 
of  every  family^".  But  most  of  all,  to  our  Aryan 
ancestors,  the  more  ample  personifications  of  the  sky 
and  of  light  were  conceived  to  be  the  givers  of  truth 
to  men. 

Even  to  the  present  day  the  Brahman,  as  he  re- 
cites his  morning  devotions,  utters  as  his  most 
sacred  text  the  following  prayer  to  the  Sun-God  : 
— "Let  us  meditate  on  that  excellent  glory  of  the 
Divine  vivifier  (Savitn).  May  he  enlighten  (or 
stimulate)  our  understandings  ^^" 

But   it  is  characteristic  of  India,  that  the  Gods 

8  Soph.  Antigone,  1005  foil.,  &c. 

^  Cf.  ^sch.  Prom.,  484  foil.  The  name  Prometheus  appears 
in  Sanskrit  as  pramanthas,  '  a  fire-stick,'  derived  from  a  root  sig- 
nifying '  to  churn,'  '  to  agitate,'  '  to  rub  violently.'  We  may  com- 
pare the  personification  of  Soma,  the  Indo-Iranian  libation,  who 
becomes  a  powerful  God,  ^°  Muir,  vol.  v.  pp.  202  foil. 

"  This  is  called  the  Gayatri,  and  is  taken  from  the  Kig-Veda, 
III.  62.  10.  Cp.  Monier  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  20;  and 
Muir,  Sanskrit  Texts,  iii.  p.  263,  who  gives  rather  a  different 
translation.  The  Sun- Gods,  Surya,  Savitr?',  and  Pushan,  are  in 
the  Vedas,  however,  comparatively  subordinate  Gods :  see  the 
passages  collected  by  Muir,  vol.  v.,  under  these  heads. 


III.]  Depth  of  Vedic  Ideas.  77 

most  invoked,  even  in  the  earliest  times,  have  a 
philosophical  cast.  Thus,  in  the  Yedas,  the  highest 
and  truest  conception  of  God  is  apparently  that  of 
Yaruwa, — etymologically  the  same  as  the  Greek 
ovpavoi, — the  God  of  the  over-arching  all-embracing 
sky,  and  therefore  not  so  much  the  God  of  garish 
day,  as  of  the  deep  mysterious  night,  when  the 
myriad  stars  lead  our  thoughts  back  and  back  into 
the  abysses  of  space.  He  is  the  God  of  deep  thought 
and  wisdom,  who  reveals  himself  to  the  pondering 
sage,  while  Mitra,  the  God  of  day,  calls  men  to  ac- 
tivity and  joy  ^^  YaruTza  is  everywhere,  and  knows 
everything.  Where  two  men  are  devising  some- 
thing in  secret,  there  he  is  as  the  third.  "  His  mes- 
sengers descending  from  heaven  traverse  this  world ; 
thousand-eyed  they  look  across  the  whole  earth  ^l" 
But  to  the  man  who  looks  up  to  him  with  faith, 
he  reveals  himself  in  the  most  intimate  and  loving 
communion  ^^ 

It  is  certainly  very  astonishing  to  observe  the 
growth  which  solemn  and  mysterious  ideas  have  at- 
tained in  the  better  parts  of  these  Vedic  hymns. 
We  can  hardly  find  elsewhere  anything  so  striking 

'^  Muir,  vcl.  V  ,  esp.  the  quotation  from  Professor  Roth  on  p,  70, 

13  Ibid.,  p.  64. 

'^  See  especially  the  hymns  of  the  rishi  or  sage  Vasishifha,  quoted 
by  Muir,  vol.  v.  pp.  66,  67.  His  words  make  us  think,  partly 
by  way  of  contrast,  of  Abraham,  the  '  friend '  of  God.  Cp.  esp. 
Big- Veda,  vii.  88:  —  "Where  are  those  friendships  of  us  two? 
Let  us  seek  the  harmony  which  (we  enjoyed)  of  old,  I  have 
gone,  0  self-sustaining  Varu??a,  to  thy  vast  and  spacious  house 
with  a  thousand  gates.  He  who  was  thy  fiienJ,  intimate,  thine 
own  and  beloved,  has  committed  offences  against  thee,"  «fcc. 


78     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

as  the  prominence  given  to  Aditi,  the  mother  of  the 
Gods,  the  ''  womb  of  the  morning,"  who  becomes  the 
personification  of  Infinity ;  and  Riid,  ^^,  at  first  the 
sun's  allotted  path  through  the  sky,  and  then  a  gene- 
ral name  for  order  and  rightness,  almost  an  antici- 
pation of  that  ideal  Duty,  of  whom  it  is  said, — 

*'  Thou  dost  preserve  the  stars  from  wrong, 
And  the  most  ancient  Heavens  through  thee  are  fresh 
and  strong." 

We  trace,  even  here,  the  dangerous  tendency  to 
abstractions  which  has  in  the  end,  by  a  one-sided 
development,  entangled  a  most  religious  people  in 
the  net  of  pantheism ;  and  yet  they  are  abstractions 
of  wonderful  beauty,  telling  us  of  the  richness  and 
ripeness  of  the  Hindu  intellect,  and  filling  us  with 
•  brilliant  hopes  for  the  future  of  that  race,  when  it  has 
received  the  proper  balance  of  Christian  doctrine. 

If  we  turn  from  India  to  Greece,  we  perceive  at 
once  the  difference  in  the  prominence  of  the  Sun-God 
Apollo,  as  the  mediator  and  revealer,  conceived  as 
a  figure  of  youthful  human  beauty,  born  amongst 
men,  working  for  them  and  with  them,  and  dwelling 
in  their  midst  in  his  oracular  shrines  ^l  Delphi  be- 
comes the  religious  centre  of  Greece,  and,  we  may 

^'  Max  Miiller,  Hihhert  Lectures,  No.  5 ;  Muir,  vol.  v.  sect.  3. 

^^  The  Ion  of  Euripides  gives  a  bright  picture  of  the  life  of 
Delphi,  and  of  the  kind  of  affection  ite  sentiment  with  which  the 
"common  tripod  of  Hellas"  was  regarded.  In  the  hands  of  this 
poet  the  religious  feeling  is,  however,  much  alloyed  with  those 
"modern"  elements, — the  romantic,  the  sceptical,  and  the  pic- 
turesque, which  are  so  natural  to  him.  It  is  much  to  ,be  regretted 
that  we  do  not  possess  a  play  of  -^schylus  or  Sophocles  on  a  like 
subject. 


III.]  The  Delphic  Oracle.  79 

almost  say,  of  the  Mediterranean  nations^"'.  It  is 
appealed  to  on  the  highest  State  questions,  of  war 
and  peace,  of  building  cities,  sending  out  colonies, 
and  the  like ;  and  also  in  private  difficulties  of  e very- 
kind.  The  method  of  consulting  this  oracle  may  be 
described,  as  it  is  the  best  example  of  the  ideas  of 
oracular  inspiration  generally  prevalent  in  heathen- 
ism, shewing  its  weakness  even  in  its  stronghold. 
The  ceremony  began  by  sacrificing  a  victim,  which 
was  required  not  only  to  bow  its  head,  as  in  other 
sacrifices,  but  to  tremble  all  over  as  the  libation  was 
poured  upon  it.  This  was  considered  a  sign  that  the 
God  was  about  to  give  a  response  ^^.  The  Pythia,  or 
prophetess,  prepared  herself  for  executing  her  office, 
by  chewing  laurel-leaves  (the  tree  specially  sacred  to 
the  God),  and  drinking  from  the  Castalian  spring. 
Being  thus,  as  it  were,  in  communion  with  him,  she 
took  her  seat  upon  the  tripod,  which  was  set  over 
a  chasm,  from  which  a  certain  intoxicating  vapour 
or  gas  was  known  to  issue  ^^  The  reception  of  this 
was  supposed  actually  to  fill  her  with  the  divine 
afflatus ;  she  fell  into  an  ecstasy,  and  uttered  strange 
words  with  foaming  mouth,  an  excitement  which 
sometimes   even  resulted   in  death -'^.     These  words 

"  The  best  summary  of  facts  on  the  subject  of  Greek  Oracles, 
with  which  I  am  acquainted,  is  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers'  Essay  in 
Hellenica,  (Rivingtons,  1880) ;  Cp.  Dr.  Mozley's  Prize  Essay,  The 
Influence  of  Ancient  Oracles  in  Fuhlic  and  Private  Life  (Oxford, 
printed  by  Baxter,  1835). 

'«  Plutarch,  de  defectu  oraculorum,  §  46,  p.  435  C  ;  §  49,  p.  437  A. 

1^  Oiigen,  c.  Celsum,  vii.  3  ;  Diodorus  Siculus,  pp.  523,  524. 
Cp.  Virgil's  "plena  deo." 

^°  Longinus,  c.  13.  Plutarch,  de  defectu  orac,  §  51,  p.  438  A, 
Cp.  DoUinger,  Heidenthum,  p.  188. 


80      The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

were  taken  down,  and  turned  into  metre  by  a  pro- 
phet or  poet,  who  stood  by  to  listen  to  her  ut- 
terances. 

The  whole  scene  is  repulsive,  and  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  few  downward  steps  which  lead  from 
the  sanctuary  of  Apollo  to  the  caves  of  witches  and 
necromancers,  that  peep  and  mutter  in  the  corners 
of  the  earth.  Nor  were  priestess  and  prophet  free 
from  all  suspicion  of  bribery  and  undue  influence  in 
their  answers.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  enemy  of 
mankind  stepped  in,  to  mar  man's  approach  to  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

Nevertheless,  Delphi,  on  the  whole,  plays  a  noble 
part  in  Greek  history.  It  concentrates  the  rival 
states,  as  it  were,  round  one  hearth  and  home ;  it  is 
.  a  spiritual,  vivifying  influence ;  it  witnesses  to  the 
deep  ineradicable  belief  that  God  wills  to  teach  and 
guide  men  in  their  difiiculties.  Even  the  sceptical 
Heraclitus  confessed  its  power  when  he  said : — 

"The  King,  whose  oracle  is  in  Delphi,  neither  speaks 
nor  conceals,  but  signifies." 

And  again  : — 

"The  Sibyl,  with  raving  mouth,  while  she  utters  un- 
lovely, unadorned,  and  inelegant  words,  yet,  by  the  power 
of  the  God,  reaches  with  her  voice  to  the  distance  of  a 
thousand  years  ^\" 

But  the  highest  testimony  is  that  given  by  Socrates, 
who,  above  all  his  countrymen,  combined  faith  and 
common  sense  in  due  proportion.  The  famous  text 
written  up  in  the  shrine  at  Delphi,  "know  thyself," 
was  often  referred  to  by  him  as  the  foundation  of  his 
"  EeracUti  Ephesii  reliqum,  ed.  By  water,  pp.  H,  12. 


III.]  Socrates'  relation  to  the  Oracles.  81 

philosophy's;  and  the  answer  given  to  his  friend, 
''  that  no  one  was  wiser  than  Socrates,"  was  wisely 
interpreted  by  himself  in  no  boastful  spirit,  and  de- 
termined the  direction  of  his  whole  career'^.  Hence 
we  are  not  surprised  at  finding  him  refer  to  ora- 
cles and  portents,  in  dealing  with  a  sceptic,  as 
some  of  the  best  proofs  of  the  existence  of  a  Di- 
vine Providence  '^. 

"  What  will  convince  you  (says  Socrates)  that  the  Gods 
really  have  a  care  for  you  ?  " 

"  When  they  send,  as  you  say  they  send,  counsellors  to 
teach  us  what  to  do  and  what  to  avoid." 

"But  (rejoins  Socrates)  when  the  Athenians  ask  them 
some  question,  and  they  reply  by  means  of  the  art  of  divi- 
nation, do  you  not  think  that  they  really  speak  to  you  also  ? 
Or  when  they  send  portents  to  warn  the  Greeks,  or  it  may 
be  all  mankind,  of  something  which  is  coming,  do  they 
except  you  alone,  and  neglect  you?  Or  do  you  think  that 
the  Gods  would  have  given  mankind  an  innate  opinion 
that  they  were  able  to  do  them  good  and  evil,  if  they  had 
not  the  power,  and  that  men  would  have  been  deceived 
continually,  and  never  have  found  out  their  mistake,  if  it 
were  not  so^?" 

The  whole  passage  from  which  this  is  an  extract 
is  well  worth  reading;  and  our  confidence  in  So- 
crates is  heightened,  when  we  find  that  he  made  a 
wise  distinction  between  questions  which  should  and 
should  not  be  referred  to  the  God,  refusing  to  ask 
for  revelation,  where  the  exercise  of  good  sense  and 

^  Xenophon,  Mem.  iv.  2.  24 ;  Plato,  Phadrus,  p.  229  E,  &c. 

2'  Plato,  ApoL,  p.  20  E.  ^  Xen.,  Mem.  i.  4.  15. 

^*  The  Stoics  argued  the  converse  proposition.     The  Gods  love 
men,  therefore  they  give  man  a  knowledge  of  the  future,  which  is 
BO  advantageous  to  him.     Cicero  de  Divinatione,  i.  38. 
G 


82      The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

judgment  would  suffice  ^^  But,  over  and  above 
this  good  sense  and  judgment,  he  believed  himself 
to  possess  a  certain  Divine  monitor,  which  is  best 
described  as  a  supernatural  voice,  generally  taking 
the  form  of  a  restraint  from  some  dangerous  course 
of  action-';  and  answering  nearly  to  the  Christian's 
trust  in  the  directing  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  faith  on  the  part  of  Socrates  had,  no  doubt, 
great  weight  with  his  chief  disciple,  the  most  bril- 
liant representative  of  Greek  religious  thought. 
Plato  had  the  natural  contempt  of  a  thinker  for 
what  seems  irrational  and  ecstatic,  and  puts  the 
inspired  seer  low  down  in  the  scale  of  those  who 
have  had  any  vision  of  Truth -^.  But  he,  never- 
theless, acknowledged  the  art  of  divination  to  be 
a  channel  of  truth,  and  declared  it  to  be  the  office 
of  the  intellect  and  reason  to  collect  and  criticise 
the  revelations  made  in  these  states  of  troubled 
fancy -^  And  further,  in  his  mature  treatise  on 
the  Laws,  he  prescribed  resort  to  Delphi  for  the 
whole  body  of  the  sacred  ordinances  of  a  state  ^". 

Facts  like  these,  chosen  from  a  multitude,  may 
serve  to  illustrate  the  trust  in  oracles  entertained 
by  some  of  the  highest  minds  of  antiquity . 

2.  Something  of  this  kind  forms,  perhaps,  the  first 

^  Xen.  Mem.  i.  1.  6—9.  ^7  pi^to,  Phcsdrus,  p.  242  B  ; 

Hep.  iv.  p.  496  C  ;  Euthyd.,  p.  272  E  ;  Apol,  p.  40.  Plato  limits 
the  Sat/xo'i/ioj/  to  restraint,  while  Xenophon,  Mem.  i.  4,  iv.  3.  12, 
extends  its  action  to  command  also. 

^'  Phcedrus,  p.  248  D ;  TimcBus,  p.  71  D,  E.  Cp.  John  Smith's 
Select  Discourses,  p.  187,  2nd  ed.  (Camb.,  1673) ;  Westcott,  Study 
of  the  Gospels,  p.  6.  ^9  q^    Charmides,  p.  173  C.  ^^  Laws, 

V.  p.  428;   vi.  pp..759,  914. 


III.]       Gods  living  and  travelling  amongst  Men.         83 

step  in  the  aspiration  after  religious  certainty  in 
almost  every  race.  For  it  is  an  old  observation, 
that  most  men  rely  upon  themselves  when  things 
go  smoothly,  and  all  turn  to  God  in  difficulties. 
Less  absolutely  universal,  but  not  less  striking,  is 
that  anthropomorphic  instinct  which  grasps  at  a 
vision  of  God  in  concrete  and  even  tangible  forms ; 
an  instinct  to  which  we  owe  alike  what  is  most 
beautiful,  and  what  is  basest  in  heathenism.  On 
the  one  side,  you  have  the  radiant  vision  of  Gods 
of  light  and  song;  on  the  other,  hideous  and  gro- 
tesque idols,  and  the  worship  of  beasts  and  bestial 
nature,  and  the  deification  of  cruelty  and  lust.  The 
whole  Greeco-Eoman  mythology,  with  its  world  of 
Gods  and  heroes,  travelling  about  to  teach  men 
arts  and  letters,  like  Demeter  and  Hermes  and 
Apollo,  to  build  their  walls  and  roads,  and  to  help, 
like  Herakles,  in  the  destruction  of  monsters,  and 
to  join  with  them  in  the  contests  of  love  and  war, 
shews  us  this  feeling  working  itself  out  with  a  pe- 
culiar simplicity,  sometimes  delightful,  but  often 
frivolously  and  childishly  immoral. 

Yery  curious,  too,  are  the  parallels  to '  all  this  in 
far-off  Mexico,  where  the  travels  of  the  Gods,  and 
their  residence  amongst  men,  sometimes  as  teachers, 
sometimes  as  cruel  and  destructive  magicians,  form, 
perhaps,  the  staple  of  the  Aztec  mythology.  Nay, 
so  simple  and  quaint  was  this  belief,  that  stone 
seats  were  fixed  at  the  corners  of  the  streets  for  the 
highest  of  their  Gods  ^^  to  rest  upon  ;  seats  canopied 

'^  Tezcatlipoca  :  see  the  authorities  in  H.  Bancroft,  Native  Races 
of  the  Pacific  States,  vol.  iii.  p.  239  (New  York,  1875).     The  same 
G  2 


84     The  Natural  Ejcpectatlon  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

over  with  green  boughs,  constantly  renewed,  and 
rio-orously  kept  from  human  occupation. 

The  same  easy  commerce  between  earth  and  hea- 
ven, with  a  somewhat  grayer  and  ruder  colouring, 
appears  in  the  old  Norse  legends  of  Thor,  Odin, 
and  Loki^^  walking  the  earth,  or  Heimdall  beget- 
ting the  three  races  of  men  ^^  This  latter  idea,  that 
all  men  are  in  general,  and  some  men  specially, 
the  children  and  representatives  of  the  Gods,  is  an- 
other and  a  very  widespread  issue  of  this  instinct. 
The  deified  monarchs  of  Egypt,  China,  and  Rome  ; 
the  "  Jove-born  kings  "  of  Homer ;  the  standing  title, 
"Father  of  Gods  and  men;"  and  the  myth  of  the 
origin  of  the  four  Hindu  castes  from  different  parts 
of  the  body  of  Brahma  ^^,  are  cases  which  occur  to 
every  one. 

The  divinity  ascribed  to  Egyptian  kings  is,  indeed , 
marvellous  in  its  audacity,  and  dates  from  the  ear- 
liest times  of  which  we  have  monumental  evidence, 
some  3,000  years,  it  is  said,  before  the  Christian 
Era  ^^  The  sovereign  of  Egypt  is  usually  styled  the 
son  of  Ea,  and  "  great  God."  He  is  seated  upon 
the  throne  of  Horus,  and  claims  authority  over  all 
nations  of  the  world.     He  is  the  "emanation"  of 

chapter  contains  the  myths  of  other  gods,  esp.  the  gentle  Quetzal- 
coatl,  who  forbade  human  sacrifice.  See  below,  Lecture  V.  Cp. 
C.  Hardwick's  Christ  and  other  Masters,  pp.  372  foil.  ed.  3,  1874. 

^2  Cp.  Grimm,  Teutonic  Mythology,  vol.  i.  p.  337,  E.  T. 

^  See  the  Rigsmdl  in  Saemund's  Edda  (Thorpe's  translation,  pp. 
85— 90,  Trubner,  1866). 

^^  See  the  passages  collected  in  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  i. 
chap.  i.  ed.  2,  1872. 

^*  See  Eenouf,  Hibhert  Lectures,  p.  161  foil.  1880. 


III.]    Deified  Kings  in  Egypt ^  Eojne,  and  China,      85 

the  Sun -God,  and  his  living  image  upon  earth. 
"  All  lands,  all  nations,  the  entire  compass  of  the 
great  circuit  [of  the  sun],  come  to  me  as  my  sub- 
jects;" such  is  the  language  of  an  Egyptian  king^°. 
And  this  language,  strange  and  awful  as  it  may 
seem,  does  not  appear  to  be  merely  official  gran- 
diloquence, or  courtier-like  adulation,  it  reads  like 
a  genuine  expression  of  belief  that  the  king  is  a 
true  impersonation  of  the  deity,  whose  goodness 
penetrates  everywhere,  whose  eyes  see  everything, 
and  whose  ears  hear  every  secret  ^^. 

The  other  country  to  which  we  should  turn,  ex- 
pecting to  find  similar  expressions,  is  China,  where, 
at  the  present  day,  "Son  of  Heaven,"  and  "august 
or  mighty  God "  (Hwang  Ti),  are  common  titles 
of  the  Emperor. 

The  phenomenon  here  and  at  Eome  is,  indeed, 
diff'erent  from  that  in  Egypt.  It  arose  rather  in 
policy  of  state  than  in  simple  impulse,  when  a 
comparatively  late  dynasty  wished  to  establish  its 
position  by  claiming  equal  prerogatives  with  an  old 
and  deified  race  of  heroes  ^^.  Yet,  even  in  this  de- 
graded and  artificial  form,  it  could  not, have  taken 
root  without  some  foundation  in  natural  feeling. 
In    both    countries,    this   divinity    ascribed    to    the 

^  Amenophis  II. ;  Eenouf,  1.  c.  p.  163, 

^^  Cp.  Mr.  Goodwin's  remarks,  quoted  by  Renouf,  1.  c.  p.  165  ; 
and  the  ode  to  Pharaoh,  in  Bccords  of  the  Past,  vol.  vi.  p.  101. 

^  Cp.  Legge,  Religions  of  China,  p.  10,  1880;  and  especially  In- 
troduction to  the  Shit-King,  pp.  xxv.  foil.,  in  Sacred  Books  of  the 
East,  vol.  iii.  1879.  The  title  Hwang  Ti,  was  taken,  b.c.  221,  "by 
the  founder  of  the  short-lived  dynasty  of  Khira,  avowedly  that  he 
might  appear  equal  to  Fu-hsi,  and  other  ancient  sovereigns." 


86     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Ti'uth.     [Lect. 

Emperor,  bears  witness  to  the  deep  sense  of  the 
people  that  sovereign  power  is  a  reflection  of  the  Di- 
vine nature,  that  God  is  a  God  of  order,  and  speaks 
to  man  by  and  through  man,  and  that  He  cares 
for  and  watches  over  the  regular  political  life  of 
His  creatures.  When,  indeed,  we  consider  the  mar- 
vellous fact,  absolutely  unparalleled,  I  suppose,  in 
history,  that  China  has  been  a  settled  state,  in 
which  dynasties  have  followed  dynasties  for  the  whole 
known  period  of  perhaps  5,000  years,  during  which 
we  have  details  and  records  of  human  society ;  that 
it  began  to  be  thus  settled  as  early  as  Egypt,  and 
has  outlasted  the  Eomano-German  empire ;  we  can- 
not wonder  that  men  should  form  even  this  terribly 
exaggerated  estimate  of  the  divinity  of  government. 
Much  less  can  we  doubt  that  from  that  country 
will  issue,  in  God's  good  time,  some  new  and  glo- 
rious type  of  the  Christian  polity,  when  Christ  shall 
be  recognised  as  the  mighty  God  and  Son  of  Heaven, 
whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  and  His 
kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed. 

But  even  more  remarkable  than  this  sort  of  king- 
worship  is  the  doctrine  of  Incarnation  which  has 
prevailed  in  the  later  periods  of  Hinduism.  Every 
one  has  heard  of  the  avatars,  or  descents  of  Vishnu, 
by  which  he  has  appeared  from  time  to  time  at 
great  crises,  to  shew  his  love  for  men,  and  his  con- 
descension to  their  wants,  sometimes  in  human  form, 
sometimes  in  that  of  animals  ^^     In  the  majority  of 

^^  The  ten  avatars  are  enumerated  by  Hardwick,  Christ  and  other 
Mastersy  p.  196,  ed.  1874;  and  Monier  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom, 
p.  329  foil.  1875,  &c. 


III.]  Krishna  and  Gotama  Buddha.  87 

these,  he  is  thought  to  have  exhibited  only  a  por- 
tion of  his  essence;  but  in  that  of  Knsh?2a,  the 
supreme  God  actually  becomes  man.  There  is  some- 
thing attractive  and  Apollo -like  in  this  figure  of 
the  "dark  God,"  which  has  made  him  the  most 
popular  deity  of  great  part  of  the  peninsula;  but 
in  his  manifestations  he  does  not  rise  above  the 
ordinary  heathen  level.  His  legend  is  full  of  strange 
exaggerations,  and  freaks  of  licentious  passion.  He 
dies  by  a  chance  shot  from  a  hunter's  hand,  and 
leaves  the  world  to  the  desolation  of  the  last,  or 
Kali  age  4°. 

The  other  great  quasi-Incarnation  of  the  eastern 
world,  that  of  Sakyamuni,  or  Gotama  Buddha,  be- 
longs to  a  different,  and  certainly  to  a  higher  order 
of  things.  Gotama  was,  we  can  hardly  doubt,  a  real 
man — the  son,  as  is  supposed,  of  a  king  in  north- 
ern India,  contemporary  with  Pythagoras  in  Greece, 
and  Confucius  in  China.  He  died  after  a  long  life 
of  some  eighty  years  ^^,  the  greater  part  of  which  had 
been  spent  in  philosophic  teaching,  about  the  year 

*"  The  legend  of  Kr/shwa  is  comparatively  modern.  See  H.  H. 
Wilson,  Essays  on  the  Religion  of  the  Hindus,  vol',  ii.  pp.  66  foil., 
ed.  2,  1862.  He  believes  the  Purawas  to  be  none  of  them  older 
than  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  a.d.  Cp.  Banerjea,  On  the  Hindu, 
Philosophy,  pp.  517  foil. 

*^  Mahd-Parinibbdna-  Sutta  (Book  of  the  Great  Decease),  ed.  T. 
"W.  Rhys  Davids,  chap.  v.  §  62 ;   Sacred  Books,  vol.  xi.  p.  106 : — 
"  But  twenty-nine  was  I  when  I  renounced 
The  world,  Subhadda,  seeking  after  good. 
Tor  fifty  years  and  one  year  more,  Subhadda, 
Since  I  went  out,  a  pilgrim  have  I  been 
Through  the  wide  realms  of  virtue  and  of  truth, 
And  outside  these  no  really  '  saint '  can  be." 


88     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

480  B.C.  ^^^  almost  at  the  same  time  as  Confucius. 
He  was,  in  many  respects,  like  the  philosophers  of 
his  age  and  country,  and  under  the  dominion  of  the 
same  prepossessions,  especially  that  of  a  belief  in 
transmigration.  But  his  sympathy  with  human  life 
was  much  deeper  and  wider,  and  his  moral  sense 
much  keener.  He  longed  to  deliver  his  countrymen 
from  a  double  slavery — at  once  religious  and  social. 
Imagining  himself  to  be  possessed  of  perfect  know- 
ledge, acquired  by  meditation  and  self-conquest,  he 
proclaimed  that  he  could  free  men  from  the  necessity 
of  repeated  births,  with  their  attendant  misery,  and 
at  the  same  time  break  down  the  bondage  of  caste, 
by  preaching  a  universal  brotherhood.  His  words 
are  thus  recorded  : — 

"  It  is  through  not  understanding  and  grasping  four 
Noble  Truths,  O  brethren,  that  we  have  had  to  run  so 
long,  to  wander  so  long  in  this  weary  path  of  transmigra- 
tion, both  you  and  I. 

"  And  what  are  these  four  ? 

"The  noble  truth  about  sorrow;  the  noble  truth  about 
the  cause  of  sorrow ;    the  noble  truth  about  the  cessation 

*^  On  this  date,  see  the  evidence  in  Max  Miiller's  Dhammapada, 
Sacred  Boohs,  vol.  x.  p.  xxxvi.  foil.  (Oxf.,  1881),  a  volume  to 
which  (with  part  of  vol.  xi.)  he  has  most  kindly  given  me  access 
before  its  publication.  He  dates  the  death  in  477  b.c,  which  nearly 
agrees  with  Dr,  0.  Frankfurter's  date,  b.c.  483.  Mr.  Rhys  Davids 
puts  it,  however,  about  412.  Cp.  the  Appendix  on  Buddhism  at  the 
end  of  this  volume.  The  date  of  Pythagoras'  death  is  put  at  497  b.c. 
in  Eusebius'  Chronicle,  but  it  may  have  been  earlier  or  later :  see 
the  discussion  in  Zeller,  Pre-Socratic  Philosophy,  i.  pp.  32^  foil., 
E.  T.,  1881.  Confucius  was  born  b.c  551,  and  died  b.c  478  :  see 
J.  Legge,  Life  and  Teachings  of  Confucius,  pp.  57  and  87.  Hard- 
wick,  in  his  Christ  and  other  Masters,  called  attention  generally  to 
this  synchronism  of  great  teachers  and  great  religious  movements 
in  different  countries. 


III.]  Gotama  Buddha.  89 

of  sorrow ;  and  the  noble  truth  about  the  path  that  leads 
to  that  cessation.  But  when  these  noble  truths  are  grasped 
and  k^own,  the  craving  for  existence  is  rooted  out,  that 
which  leads  to  renewed  existence  is  destroyed,  and  then 
there  is  no  more  birth  *^" 

Hence  he  taught  that  if  any  man  put  implicit  faith 
in  him  as  supremely  Blessed,  Holy  and  Enlightened, 
and  believed  that  he  has  proclaimed  a  universal  Truth, 
'of  advantage  in  this  .world,  passing  not  away,  wel- 
coming all,  leading  to  salvation,'  and  has  set  up  a 
Church  which  is  the  '  supreme  sowing-ground  of  merit 
for  the  world,'  such  a  man  need  not  fear  the  misery 
of  re-birth. 

Any  one,  of  whatever  race  or  position,  who  be- 
lieves in  Buddha,  his  Law  and  his  Church,  can 
triumphantly  say, — 

"  Hell  is  destroyed  for  me ;  and  re-birth  as  an  animal  or 
a  ghost  or  in  any  place  of  woe.  I  am  converted ;  I  am  no 
longer  liable  to  be  re-born  in  a  state  of  sujBfering,  and  am 
assured  of  final  salvation  ^*." 

What  strikes  us,  first  of  all,  in  looking  at  this 
pretended  revelation,  is  the  awful  audacity  and  self- 
reliance  of  this  great  teacher,  the  absence  of  any- 
thing like  gratitude  to  God,  or  dependence  upon  Him 

which  is  a  redeeming  feature  in  Mahomet,  and  is 

not  absolutely  wanting  in  Confucius.  Gotama  either 
denied  or  ignored  the  two  great  motive  and  enno- 
bling truths  of  the  existence  of  God  and  of  the  hu- 

«  Mahd-PariniUdna-Sutta  (Book  of  the  Great  Decease),  ed. 
T.  W.  Rhys  Davids,  chap.  ii.  §  1  ;  Sacred  Books,  vol.  xi.  p.  23. 
Cp.  the  same  editor's  Buddhism  (S.P.C.K.,  p.  48). 

"  Mahd-PariniUana-Sutta,  ut  supra,  eh.  ii.  §  8,  p.  27. 


90     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

man  soul*^, — truths  which  were  doubtless  terribly 
obscured  by  the  Brahmanism  of  his  day,  but  were 
certainly  not  unknown  to  many  of  his  Hindu  coun- 
trymen. He  offered  a  refuge  from  misery  by  turning 
away  from  the  positive  to  the  negative  side  of  life. 
He  was  a  thorough-going  pessimist,  believing,  as  his 
Hindu  education  inclined  him  to  conclude,  that  the 
supreme  force  in  the  world  was  that  of  action  (karma)"*^, 
not  of  love  ;  and  having  had  burnt  into  him  the  misery 
and  sorrow  which  follows  action,  he  taught  that  a 
state  of  apathy,  of  death  in  life,  the  extinction  of 
passion  and  delusion  (or,  as  he  called  it,  Nirvana) 
was  the  highest  goal  of  existence,  and  the  true  escape 
from  repeated  births.  Believing  also  that  he,  as 
man,  had  reached,  by  his  own  strength,  a  summit 
.which  placed  him  above  all  other  beings,  whether 
Gods  or  men,  he  turned  the  attention  of  his  disci- 
ples entirely  on  the  attainment  of  merit  and  wisdom, 
'each  one  for  himself.'  Buddhism,  in  one  main  as- 
pect, is  Pelagianism  run  mad,  tempered  with  this 
proviso,  that  directly  a  man  reflects  on  his  own 
merit,  he  entirely  loses  the  benefit  which  it  was  earn- 
ing for  him.  On  the  other  hand,  Buddha  himself 
was  possessed  by  so  elevating  and  self-sacrificing  an 

*^  Metaphysical  Buddhism  denies  the  existence  of  the  soul :  see 
the  quotations  in  Rhys  Davids'  Buddhism,  pp.  93  foil.  But  there 
are  verses  in  the  Bhammapada  (160,  165,  and  323)  which  speak  of 
*  self  in  a  way  rather  inconsistent  with  this.  Cp.  Max  Miiller, 
Selected  Essays,  ii.  p.  303. 

^  Sutta-Nipdta,  ed.  FaushoU,  verse  653  {Sacred  Booh,  x.  2, 
p.  116):  "By  work  the  world  exists,  by  work  mankind  exists, 
beings  are  bound  by  work  as  the  linch-pin  of  the  rolling  cart 
(keeps  the  wheel  on)." 


III.]  Beligioiis  Doctrines  of  Buddha.  91 

impulse,  and  by  so  mystical  and  even  spiritual  a  cha- 
racter, that  his  precepts  are  superior  to  those  of  most 
heathen  teachers,  and  have  attracted  many  who  have 
no  turn  for  his  philosophical  doctrines. 

The  fact  that  he  felt  himself  bound  to  resort  to 
these  terrible  and  cruel  extremes,  enables  us,  to 
some  extent,  to  measure  the  corruption  of  the  doc- 
trines from  which  he  fled.  He  seems  to  have  felt 
that  destruction  was  the  only  possible  process  of  deal- 
ing with  the  current  notions  of  Brahmanism. 

His  followers  have,  to  some  extent,  filled  the 
gap  thus  created  within  them,  either  by  deifying 
their  master,  as  some  of  the  Northern  Buddhists 
do'^^  or  at  least  by  exalting  him  above  all  things 
in  heaven  and  earth,  by  worshipping  his  supposed 
relics,  and  inventing  a  vast  amount  of  romantic  le- 
gends about  him,  from  which  the  earlier  records 
of  his  life  are  comparatively  free  ^^.      But  the  ma- 

"  The  Aisvarikas  of  Nepal,  who  worship  an  Adi-Buddha ;  see 
B.  H.  Hodgson,  Illustrations  of  the  Literature  and  Religion  of  the 
Buddhists  (Serampore,  1841),  and  later  works.  Cp.  Max  Miiller, 
Selected  Essays,  ii.  p.  222,  and  the  quotations  from  Clement  of 
Alexandria  {Strom,  i.  15,  §  71,  p.  131  Sylb.),  and  Megastheucs 
(ed.  Schwanbeck,  p.  139),  who,  after  mentioning  the  Brahmans 
and  the  Samanas,  say  that  "  there  are  also  some  of  the  Indians 
who  are  followers  of  the  commands  of  Butta,  whom  through  exces- 
sive veneration  they  have  honoured  as  a  god."  See  also  Khys 
Davids'  Buddhism  (S.P.C.K.),  chap.  8,  and  Hardwick,  Christ  and 
other  Masters,  p.  162  foil.,  cd.  3. 

*®  The  Bhammapada,  a  collection  of  ethical  sayings,  contains 
none.  The  Sutta-Nipdta  has,  I  believe,  only  an  instance  of  levi- 
tation,  a  common  Hindu  belief  at  the  present  day.  The  Mahd- 
Parinihhdna-Sutta  has  more,  but  they  are  trifling  compared  with 
those  of  the  later  Lalita-  Vistara,  which  is  the  ordinary  source  of 


92     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

jority  of  them  seem  to  have  kept  but  too  faith- 
fully to  his  negative  doctrines,  and  where  Budd- 
hism is  really  prevalent,  there  life,  if  less  actively 
vicious  than  elsewhere,  is  generally  weak  and  child- 
ish. "We  shall  have  occasion  to  return  to  this  subject 
again ;  but  so  much  must  now  be  said  to  introduce 
to  your  notice  the  founder  of  the  system  which  claims 
the  largest  number  of  adherents  of  any  one  religion 
on  this  earth,  that  strange  figure  of  selfish  unselfish- 
ness, and  austere  gentleness  which  is,  alas !  to  per- 
haps five  hundred  '*^  millions  of  mankind  the  pattern 
ideal  man,  the  light  of  the  world,  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life,  the  supreme  wisdom,  the  teacher  and 
deliverer  of  the  human  race. 

3.  What  has  already  been  said  under  the  two  pre- 
vious heads,  with  regard  to  elemental  voices  and 
Incarnations,  will  enable  you  to  grasp  more  readily 
the  third  point,  viz.  the  doctrine  of  Inspiration  which 
has  prevailed  in  non-Christian  lands.  The  sacred 
books  of  the  world  are  the  third  and  final  expression 

the  romance.  Those  of  the  M.  P.  S.  are  described  in  JBuddhism 
(S.P.C.K.),  p.  188,  perhaps  with  too  great  a  tendency  to  assimi- 
late  them  to  the  supposed  Gospel  parallels.  The  Mahd-Parinih- 
hdna-Sutta  or  Great  Decease,  the  earliest  biographical  treatise  of 
Buddhism,  is  allowed  to  be  certainly  not  older  in  its  present  form 
than  the  age  of  Sandracottus,  circa  b.c.  300,  on  account  of  the 
title,  Xakravarti,  or  "King  of  Kings,"  there  frequently  men- 
tioned :  see  the  note,  ch.  v.  §  25  ;  Sacred  Books,  vol.  xi.  p.  92. 
But  no  Buddhist  books  at  all  can  be  traced  beyond  the  Council  of 
Asoka,  about  b.c.  250.  See  Puddhism,  p.  86,  and  the  Babra  in- 
scription, which  refers  to  certain  Buddhist  treatises  at  present  dif- 
ficult to  identify,  ibid.,  p.  224  foil. 

"  See  the  calculation  in  Max  Miiller's  Selected  Essays,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  224  foil.,  1881. 


III.]  Natural  Idea  of  Inspiration.  93 

of  the  feeling  that  God  has  spoken  to  man.  Whether 
in  the  form  of  mythical  History  or  of  sacred  Law, 
of  Hymns  or  collections  of  Prophecy  and  Oracles, 
they  all  bear  witness  to  the  same  sentiment.  They 
represent  to  us  not  the  direct  and  special  interference 
of  the  Divine  voice  at  scattered  moments,  nor  the 
temporary  appearance  of  the  Divinity  in  human  form 
at  certain  crises  of  the  world's  history,  but  the  in- 
terpenetration  of  the  human  spirit  by  the  Divine, 
so  as  to  produce  a  general  and  systematic  form  of 
religious  temper  and  religious  thought  and  policy. 
Fragments  of  this  kind  of  literature  meet  us  (it 
may  be  said)  in  all  countries ;  and  it  is  often  little 
more  than  an  accident  that  we  possess  the  Scriptures 
of  one  nation  and  not  those  of  another. 

Men  from  the  beginning  have  seen  something 
Divine  in  the  use  of  language,  especially  of  im- 
passioned or  disciplinary  language.  They  see  cer- 
tain of  their  fellows  rising  above  the  seen  and  the 
actual,  carried  by  faith  to  the  near  presence  of  God, 
grasping  human  life  in  its  great  issues,  gathering 
up  its  past  in  myths,  reading  with  keen  eye  the 
lessons  of  its  present  history,  summing  up  the  re- 
lations of  class  to  class  and  of  person  to  person, 
in  laws  which  will  satisfy  the  mass  of  individual 
instincts  of  right  and  wrong,  foreseeing  the  glories 
and  catastrophes  of  the  future  in  the  germs  of  ex- 
isting tendencies.  Observations  of  this  sort  have 
led  everywhere  to  a  belief  in  inspiration.  Thus 
almost  all  early  poetry  and  early  law  is  ascribed  to 
the  assistance  of  a  Divine,  indwelling  Spirit,  a  breath 
of  God  swaying  and  directing  human  breath. 


94     The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

This  is  true,  even  in  those  nations  whose  thoughts 
of  God  were  somewhat  wanting  in  awe.  When 
Homer  and  Hesiod  invoke  the  muse,  when  Numa 
consults  Egeria  for  his  laws,  or  when  the  old  Norse 
tale-teller^"  relates  his  journey  to  Asgard,  the  home 
of  the  Gods,  there  is  more  in  it  than  literary  com- 
monplace or  fanciful  ornament.  Under  somewhat 
different  circumstances,  any  of  these  books  might 
have  formed  part  of  a  regular  collection  of  sacred 
texts.  But  the  feeling  that  meets  us  in  Persia 
and  India,  in  the  Avesta,  and  especially  in  the  Yedas, 
(not  to  speak  of  the  Koran,)  is  certainly  much  deeper, 
and  is  connected  with  a  more  permanent  hold  of 
the  forms  of  religion  upon  the  mind.  The  dialogues 
of  the  old  Persian  lawgiver,  Zoroaster,  with  the 
•supreme  Being,  have,  in  the  midst  of  much  that 
is  trivial  and  exaggerated,  something  of  the  simple 
grandeur  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets.  But  of  all 
pre-Christian  religions,  that  of  India  has  had  the 
completest  and  most  unchecked  history,  and  par- 
ticularly in  regard  to  its  sacred  books. 

The  word  Veda  means  "  knowledge,"  and  is  etymo- 
logically  connected,  as  you  know,  with  the  common 
Greek  and  Latin  words  for  knowing  and  seeing,  and 
with  our  own  '  wit'  and  '  wisdom' ;  and  in  the  Vedas, 
the  Hindus  suppose  themselves  to  possess  a  perfect 
system  of  truth.  These  books  are  so  sacred,  that  for 
many  centuries  they  were  handed  down  by  word  of 
mouth  without  manuscripts,  yet  in  a  form  which  even 
western  criticism  supposes  to  be  very  little  changed 

'°  Snorri,  the  collector  of  the  Prose  Edda.  Cp.  Thorpe,  Northern 
Mythology,  yol.  i.  p.  133. 


III.]        Idea  of  an  Eternal  Word  in  the  Vedas.         95 

by  tradition.  Thus  they  embody  the  idea  of  reverence 
for  the  Word  of  God  rather  than  for  Scripture,  for 
speech  rather  than  writing.  So  far  is  this  thought  car- 
ried, that  Hindus  generally  believe  them  to  be  an  ac- 
tual articulate  sound,  emanating  from  the  Divinity  ^^ 
Some  suppose  this  sound  to  be  itself  eternal,  others 
that  it  is  a  spirit,  or  breath,  issuing  from  a  personal 
God ;  others  that  it  was  produced  from  the  ele- 
ments ;  while  others  derive  it  from  the  mystical 
victim  (Purusha),  begotten  in  the  beginning^',  to 
whom  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  hereafter. 

But  with  all  these  varieties  of  opinion,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  Divine  authority  and  infallibility  of  the 
Vedas  was,  till  quite  lately,  characteristic  of  all 
Hindu  sects,  and  was  thought  to  be  so  self-evident 
as  to  require  no  more  proof  than  that  the  sun  shines  ^^, 
i.e.  it  was  one  of  those  things  that  proved  itself. 
Even  now  the  Vedas,  little  as  they  are  known  to 
the  mass  of  the  people,  form  probably  the  chief  spi- 
ritual link  which  binds  the  various  forms  of  Hin- 
duism together.  Hence  follows  clearly  the  immense 
importance  of  a  knowledge  of  their  contents  to  any 

^^  For  the  different  theories  of  inspiration,  reference  should  be 
made  to  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  iii.,  which  is  entirely  occupied 
with  this  subject.     Cp.  Monier  "Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  pp.  7,  8. 

'^  Rig-  Veda,  x.  90 ;  the  Purusha  Suhta :  see  Appendix  to  this 
volume.  Cp.  Muir,  vol.  iii.  p.  3,  and  Banerjea,  Arian  Witness, 
p.  204. 

^  See  the  quotation  from  *Sankara  Acharyya  (8th  or  9th  cent,  a.d.) 
and  from  Sayana's  Introduction  to  his  Commentary,  (14th  cent.  a.d. 
ace.  to  Muir),  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  iii.  p.  62,  &c.  Cp.  S.  John  viii. 
12,  14 :  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world  .  .  .  Even  if  I  bear  witness 
of  Myself,  My  witness  is  true," — perhaps  as  the  Light  which 
proves  itself  by  its  mere  shining. 


96      The  Natural  Expectation  of  Bivine  Truth.    [Lect. 

who  would  preach  Christ,  the  true  Word,  in  India. 
We  have  the  people  with  us  (thank  God !)  in  their 
deep  conception  of  an  eternal  Word ;  we  have  them 
with  us  in  the  thought  that  all  things  in  heaven 
and  earth  are  filled  by  its  sound  and  speak  of  it, 
that  its  shining  presence  is  more  than  any  logical 
proof;  and  surely,  on  the  basis  of  this  real  agree- 
ment, we  can  bring  them  to  acknowledge  that,  while 
their  own  sages  have  heard  from  time  to  time  echoes 
of  the  Divine  voice  mixed  with  more  earthly  tones, 
we  have  the  true  and  full  harmony  in  the  Bible 
and  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Up  to  this  point  we  have  been  tracing  the  belief 
of  mankind  outside  the  Church  in  its  main  outlines. 
We  have  indicated  the  chief  forms  in  which  men 
have  supposed  that  God  has  made  Himself  known, 
and  with  Himself  has  brought  them  truth.  At  the 
same  time,  we  have  pointed  out  the  kind  of  errors 
which  have  interfered  with  their  grasp  of  truth,  the 
evil  forms  of  superstition  and  delusion,  of  diabolic 
lust  and  cruelty,  of  passion  and  policy,  which  rise 
up  like  so  many  spectres  to  mock  the  enquirer. 
Nor  must  we  imagine  that  the  insufficiency  of  their 
supposed  revelations  was  unperceived  by  the  wiser 
among  the  heathens  themselves^.     They,  too,  have 

^  This  feeling  shews  itself  in  a  common  belief  in  the  death  and 
passing  away  of  the  older  gods  :  see  an  interesting  passage  in  Max 
Mviller's  Essay  on  Buddhist  Pilgrims,  Selected  Essays,  ii.  p.  241 
foil.  The  scepticism  of  the  Peruvian  Inca,  who  'threw  doubts 
upon  the  divine  nature  of  such  an  unquiet  thing '  as  the  sun  ap- 
peared to  him  to  be,  is  paralleled  by  the  familiar  facts  of  Greek 
mythology,  the  succession  of  Kronos,  Zeus,  &c.,  and  by  the  Eag- 
narcik,  or  so-called  "  twilight  of  the  Gods,"  in  the  Teutonic  my- 


III.]    Heathen  Criticism  of  their  own  Revelations.      97 

criticised  and  censured  their  own  shortcomings ; 
they  have  passed  through  all  forms  of  disappoint- 
ment, sorrow,  doubt,  and  scepticism,  often  ending  in 
philosophic  atheism  and  blank  materialism.  I  will 
conclude  by  some  examples  of  this  despondency  from 
the  great  writers  of  Greece  and  Eome,  not  because 
the  feeling  did  not  exist  elsewhere,  but  because  their 
ability  and  high  character  stamp  their  sayings  with 
a  value  for  the  whole  human  race. 

Look  first,  then,  at  the  testimony  of  Plato,  whom 
we  may  fairly  name  the  most  religious  mind  of  clas- 
sical antiquity.  If  you  read  his  writings,  you  will 
perceive  how  saturated  he  is  with  the  old  poets,  how 
much  weight  he  attaches  to  their  writings,  how  much 
wisdom  he  finds  in  the  myths  they  relate,  quoting 
them  almost  as  we  quote  from  the  Bible  ^^ 

Yet  Plato,  when  he  is  devising  a  perfect  scheme 
of  education,  is  constrained  to  forbid  the  admis- 
sion of  the  poets.  And  why  is  this?  Because  of 
the  laxity  of  their  moral  teaching  with  regard  to 
the  Gods,  and  the   low  idea  of  Truth  which  they 

thology,  by  the  tendency  to  atheism  in  India  and  Egypt  (see 
above,  Lect.  II.,  note  17),  and  by  the  spontaneous  destruction  of 
their  idols  on  the  part  of  the  Sandwich  Islanders.  On  Indian  The- 
istic  Reformers,  and  their  criticism  of  the  traditional  doctrines  of 
their  country,  see  Monier  Williams  in  Journal  of  Royal  Asiatic 
Society  for  Jan.,  1881,  which  contains  some  account  of  Rammo- 
hun  Eoy  and  the  development  of  the  Brahma  Samaj.  This  uni- 
tarian sect  has  worked  out  the  principles  of  the  Vaislwiava  re- 
formers of  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies (Eamanuja,  Madhva,  Yallabha  and  Chaitanya),  by  the  help 
of  intercourse  with  Christians. 

^^  On  this  point  cp.  C.  Ackermann,   The  Christian  Element  in 
Plato,  Eng.  Tr.,  p.  53.     (Clark,  Edinburgh,  1861.) 
H 


98      The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

embody.  He  professes  himself  sliocked  at  the  myths 
which  represent  the  Gods  as  doing  acts  of  fraud  and 
violence  and  cruelty.  For  God  cannot  be  the  author 
of  evil,  but  of  good  only.  He  cannot  be  like  a  ma- 
gician, appearing  insidiously,  now  in  one  form  and 
now  in  another.  He  cannot  be  willing  to  lie  or  to 
deceive.     For  he  says — 

"  God  is  perfectly  simple  and  true,  both  in  deed  and 
word ;  he  changes  not ;  he  deceives  not,  either  by  dream 
or  waking  vision,  by  sign  or  word^^." 

We  know  the  charges  which  infidels  sometimes 
bring  against  the  Bible,  but  imagine  a  sincere  Chris- 
tian solemnly  forbidding  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  edu- 
cation, and  you  have  a  parallel  to  what  Plato  actually 
does,  and  not  without  very  good  and  practical  rea- 
son ^^.  And  lest  we  should  think  that  he  was  more 
certain  about  his  own  possession  of  truth,  of  which 
he  has  so  magnificent  an  ideal,  turn  to  that  most 
pathetic  story  of  the  trial  of  the  greatest  and  best 
man  he  knew,  the  trial  of  Socrates.  How  does  he 
represent  his  master?  As  willing  certainly  to  die, 
as  happy  in  sufi'ering  death  in  the  cause  of  duty, 
as  reasoning  calmly  about  a  future  state,  but  really 
uncertain  whether  it  would  be  better  than  the  pre- 
sent life.  Socrates  goes  through  all  the  reasons 
which  make  him  die  peacefully,  but  his  alternative 
is  between  annihilation  and  Elysium. 

'^  Plato,  Republic,  ii.  at  the  end,  pp.  377 — 383.  Cp.  Laws, 
hook  xii.  at  the  heginning;  Zellcr's  Flato,  Eng.  Tr.,  hy  Alleyne 
and  Goodwin,  p.  497. 

"  For  other  instances  of  this  feeling  of  the  danger  of  the  myths, 
see  Dollinger,  Ueidentlmm,  p.  255. 


III.]       Pkdo^s  Dissatisfaction  and  Uncer taint//.        99 

He  comforts  himself  with  the  thought  that  his 
inward  monitor  had  not  restrained  him  from  the 
course  which  led  to  his  condemnation,  and  that  a 
good  man  can  never  suffer  evil  in  life  or  death,  or 
be  neglected  by  God ;  yet,  after  all,  his  last  words 
are : — 

"It  is  now  time  for  us  to  depart,  for  me  to  go  to  death, 
for  you  to  remain  in  life,  but  whether  of  us  goes  to  a  better 
fortune,  none  can  tell  but  God  ^." 

Plato,  then,  was  one  of  those  who,  with  all  his 
respect  for  the  early  poets  and  for  the  oracles,  could 
not  rest  his  faith  upon  them.  He  felt  that  it  was 
his  own  duty  (to  use  the  words  which  he  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Simmias  in  the  Phwdo)  "to  take  the 
best  and  most  irrefragable  of  human  words,"  namely, 
philosophy,  "  and  to  make  the  hazardous  voyage  of 
life  upon  it."  But  still,  before  his  eyes  there  floated 
the  vision  of  a  safer  vessel,  a  Divine  word  as  yet 
unrevealed  to  the  sons  of  men  ^^. 

In  other  philosophers  this  dissatisfaction  meets 
us  still  more  strongly.  We  find  them  agreeing 
in  little  else  except  in  confessions  of  their  impo- 
tence to  give  any  religious  knowledge  worthy  of 
the  name.  We  find  them  sometimes  making  a 
dogma  of  scepticism  with  the  Pyrrhonists,  some- 
times taking  refuge  in  probabilities  with  the  Aca- 
demics, sometimes  denying  or  doubting  immortality 
and  particular  providence  with  the  Stoics,  some 
times  denying  a  future  life  and  a  providence  alto- 

^  Plato,  Apology,  pp.  40—42. 

*^  See  the  famous  passage  in  the  Plmdo  (Simmias'  Speech),  p.  85. 

u2 


100    The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

gether  with  the  Epicureans.  In  this  conflict  of  opi- 
nions, no  wonder  that  probability  shoukl  seem  the 
best  form  of  truth  attainable.  It  is  surely  not  by 
accident  that  Cicero,  living  in  the  maturity  of  Eoman 
thought,  leaves  the  summing-up  of  his  dialogue  on 
tlie  nature  of  the  Gods,  which  is  a  discussion  between 
an  Epicurean,  a  Stoic,  and  an  Academic,  to  Cotta,  the 
representative  of  the  latter  school.  It  is  worth  while 
to  listen  to  the  words  in  which  he  takes  for  granted 
that  wisdom  or  certain  truth  does  not  exist  in  phi- 
losophy, for  this  may  be  held  to  be  the  practical 
judgment  of  unprejudiced  men  just  before  the  Chris- 
tian era. 

"  If  folly  (says  Cotta)  is  allowed  by  all  philosophers  to  be 
a  greater  evil  than  all  other  evils  of  fortune  or  body  to- 
gether, while  yet  as  a  fact  no  one  attains  to  wisdom,  it 
follows  that  air  we,  whom  you  (Stoics)  say  are  so  well  looked 
after  by  the  Gods,  are  after  all  in  the  most  evil  case.  For 
just  as  it  makes  no  real  difference  whether  as  a  fact  no  one 
is  in  health,  or  whether  it  is  abstractedly  impossible  to  be 
in  health,  so  I  can  see  no  difference  whether  we  assert  that 
no  one  actually  is  wise,  or  that  no  one  can  be  wise^''." 

This  uncertainty  about  providence  was  naturally 
accompanied,  as  we  have  seen,  with  an  uncertainty 
about  personal  immortality.  The  Stoics,  who  asserted 
the  noble  truth,  "  that  no  great  man  ever  existed  who 
was  not  to  some  extent  inspired","  and  who  were 
more  dogmatic  in  their  definitions  of  religious  truth 
than  many  of  the  ancients,  wavered  weakly  on  this 
subject.     Yet  what  is  inspiration  worth,  if  it  can  tell 

«°  Cicero  De  Nat.  Deortim,  iii.  32.  79. 

*^  "Nemo  vir  magnus  sine  aliquo  afflatu  divino  umquam  fuit." 
Cic.  De  Nat.  Dcor.,  ii.  66.  167. 


III.]        Doubts  of  Cicero  J  Seneca  and  Porpli/jrij.      101 

nothing  on  a  topic  so  important  to  every  man? 
Seneca,  you  will  remember,  paints  his  own  state  of 
mind  on  this  subject  in  memorable  language : — 

"I  was  delighting  in  the  discussion  about  the  eternity 
of  souls,  or  rather  in  the  belief  of  it.  For  I  gave  ready 
credence  to  the  opinion  of  great  men,  who  promise,  rather 
than  demonstrate,  a  thing  which  it  is  very  agreeable  to 
believe.  I  gave  myself  up  to  this  magnificent  hope.  I 
already  began  to  despise  my  present  self,  and  to  look  down 
upon  the  poor  remains  of  ray  weak  life,  as  I  thought  of 
the  passage  to  immeasurable  time,  and  the  possession  of 
eternity;  when  suddenly  I  was  roused  by  the  receipt  of 
your  letter,  and  lost  so  fine  a  dream.'' 

He  goes  on,  indeed,  to  attempt  to  restore  his 
dream,  and  dwells  specially  on  the  thought  of  death 
being  a  birth  into  another  existence  in  almost  apo- 
stolic language  ("dies  iste  quera  tamquam  extremum 
reformidas  seterni  natalis  est "),  but  his  proofs  are 
rather  aspirations  than  arguments ;  it  is  a  dream, 
and  a  '  perhaps ' ;  and  elsewhere  in  his  writings 
doubts  are  thicker  than  beliefs  *^''. 

We  have  given  instances  of  dissatisfaction  and 
even  despondency,  from  two  great  periods  in  which 
the  strength  of  the  human  mind  was  at  its  height. 
I  will  add  a  third,  which  discloses  the  state  of  the 
heathen  heart  just  before  the  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity throughout  the  Eoman  empire  —  the  case 
of  Porphyry,  This  man  lived  at  the  end  of  the 
third   century   of  our  era,   and  was  the    pupil   and 

^"  Seneca,  Ep.  102;  cp.  Cicero,  Tusc.  i.  11.  24,  a  criticism  on 
Plato's  Phcedo.  For  further  references  see  Dollinger,  Ueidenthiim, 
p.  589  foil. 


103    The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.    [Lect. 

literary  heir  of  Plotinus,  who,  coming  as  the  suc- 
cessor of  a  long  series  of  religious  thinkers,  had 
made  prodigious  and  even  gigantic  efforts  to  estab- 
lish heathenism  on  a  rational  basis.  But  Porphyry- 
longed  for  something  more  than  Plotinus  could  give 
him.  He  saw,  like  Justin  Martyr,  that  the  revela- 
tion of  prophecy  was  the  real  satisfaction  needed  by 
mankind.  But,  unfortunately,  the  principles  of  his 
school,  which  was  founded  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
transcendence  of  the  Deity  ^^,  forbade  him  to  accept 
the  Incarnation  and  the  Gospel  message ;  nay,  they 
converted  him  into  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  faith.  So 
he  turned  for  a  substitute  to  the  heathen  oracles. 
His  confident  expectations,  in  so  doing,  may  be  seen 
in  the  preface  to  the  collection  which  he  made. 

"  The  man  is  secure  and  firm,"  says  Porphyry,  "  who 
starts   from  this  ground,  as  one   who  draws  his  hopes  of 

being  saved  from   the  only  secure   source And  bow 

useful  such  a  collection  may  be,  those  will  know  best  who, 
with  painful  longings  after  truth,  have  prayed  that  some 
special  vision  of  the  Gods  might  be  vouchsafed  them,  in 
order  that  by  the  sure  instruction  of  such  teachers  they 
might  obtain  rest  from  their  doubts  ^*." 

®^  Cp.  Ueberweg,  Ifist.  of  Philosophy,  i.  p.  245,  lower  part,  on 
the  doctrine  of  Plotinus. 

Porphyry's  books  against  the  Christians  were  written  267— 
270  A.D.,  in  Sicily. 

^  Euseb.,  Frcep.  Evang.,  iv.  7.  The  fragments  of  his  book, 
TTfpl  Tijs  (K  Xoyiav  (jn'Ko(To({)ias,  de  pMlosoplua  ex  oraculis  haiirienda, 
have  been  edited  by  Gustav  Wolff  (Berlin,  1856).  Cp.  an  in- 
teresting passage  of  Celsus  on  the  blessings  which  have  resulted 
from  oracles,  ap.  Origen,  c.  Cels.,  viii.  45 ;  see  also  Plutarch,  de 
defectu  oraculorum,  §  46,  p.  435  I).  The  last  writer,  however, 
clearly  recognizes  the  diabolical  element  in  popular  religion,  ib.y 
%  14,  p.  417  C. 


III.]         Ignorance  of  Poets  and  Philosophers.  103 

Yet,  after  all  these  attempts  to  assure  himself  and 
to  touch  the  rock  of  truth,  Porphyry  was  constrained 
to  confess  that  the  way  of  salvation,  the  liberation 
of  the  soul,  on  which  he  prided  himself  so  much,  was 
not  to  be  discovered  in  the  doctrines  of  any  one  sect 
or  religion ;  that  no  single  philosophy  or  mode  of 
life,  neither  the  asceticism  of  India  nor  the  learning 
of  Chaldea,  nor  any  other  way  of  thinking,  was  uni- 
versal in  its  scope,  and  that  he  knew  of  none,  either 
in  fact  or  theory,  which  was  adequate  to  human 
needs  ^"^ 

This  sad  confession  of  the  most  religious  among 
philosophers  is  re-echoed  by  the  voices  of  the  poets, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  classical  litera- 
ture : — 

"  There  is  no  prophet  of  mortal  men,"  cries  Hesiod,  "  who 
can  know  the  mind  of  segis-bearing  Zeus  ^^." 

Solon,  again,  simply  asserts, — 

"The  mind  of  immortals  is  altogether  concealed  from 
men  ^^." 

And  Pindar,  after  his  fashion,  moralises  upon  the 
same  theme :  — 

"  Why  do  you  imagine  that  to  be  wisdom  in  which  one 
man  a  little  excels  another  ?  For  the  counsels  of  the  Gods 
cannot  be  scrutinized  by  the  understanding  of  a  man,  the 
offspring  of  a  mortal  mother  ^." 

It  would  be  easy  to  add  to  these  assertions  of  igno- 

*^  Quoted  by  St.  Augustine,  de  Cimtate  Dei,  x.  32. 

«s  Hesiod  ap.  Clem.  Alex.,  Strom.,  v.  14,  §  130,  p.  727,  Potter. 

«^  Solon  ap.  Clem.  1.  c.  "«  Pind.  fr.  39  [33]  ap.  Stob., 

Eel.  Phys.  et  Eth.,  ii.  1,  §  8,  a  chapter  containing  much  similar 
matter. 


104    The  Natural  Expectation  of  Divine  Truth.  [Lect. 

ranee  on  the  part  of  the  poets  ^^  The  ways  of  God 
were  dark  to  them ;  they  owned  it  with  sadness ; 
a  tinge  of  melancholy  clouds  their  songs,  and  often 

"  medio  de  fonte  leporum 
Surgit  amari  aliquid  quod  in  ipsis  floribus  angat." 

^'  The  world  by  its  wisdom  knew  not  God," — this 
is  confessed  by  the  wise  men  themselves.  The  world 
knew  not  whether  there  was  one  God  or  many, 
whether  He  cared  for  men  at  all,  or  whether  He 
cared  for  great  things  and  neglected  little  ones. 
They  knew  not  whether  they  should  die  at  once  in 
soul  as  well  as  in  body,  or  whether  they  should  live 
for  a  time  disembodied,  and  be  burnt  up  in  a  great 
world-conflagration,  or  after  numberless  transmigra- 
tions be  absorbed  into  the  great  Being  from  which 
they  sprang.  They  had  no  certainty  in  these  things. 
And  what  the  heathen  world  knew  not,  our  modern 
non-Christian  philosophers  are  equally  ignorant  of". 

^'  A  good  collection  of  these  sayings  may  be  found  in  Tholuck's 
useful  little  book,  Ouido  and  Julius,  translated  by  J.  E.  Eyland, 
and  published  by  Wm.  Ball  (London,  1836). 

^^  See  their  statements  about  the  future  life,  as  quoted  by  the 
late  [Dean]  Mansel,  Letter  to  Goldwin  Smith,  1861,  p.  30  :— "When 
even  in  this  nineteenth  century,  I  see  one  disciple  of  an  advanced 
school  of  progress  arguing  that  the  human  soul,  as  having  a  begin- 
ning and  a  development,  must  necessarily  also  have  an  end  [Blasche, 
Philosophische  Unsterblichlceitslehre,  §  16]  ;  when  I  find  another  as- 
suring me  that  the  belief  in  the  remedy  of  wrongs  in  a  future  life 
is  a  great  hindrance  to  repentance  and  amendment  in  this  life 
[F.  Richter,  Lehre  von  den  letzten  Dingen,  i.  p.  107];  when  a  third 
asserts  that  the  belief  in  a  true  death,  which  completely  ends  the 
life  of  the  individual,  can  alone  render  men  capable  of  true  religion 
and  self-denial  [Feuerbach,  Ueher  Tod  und  Unsterhlichkeit,  p.  11]; 
when  a  fourth  proclaims  that  the  last  enemy  that  shall  be  de- 
sti'oyed  by  Criticism  is  the  belief  in  a  future  existence  [Strauss, 
Glaiihenslehre,  ii.  p.  739] ;  when  a  fifth  teaches  that  individual  ex- 


III.]  GodivWihcld  His  Gijtof  Rest.  105 

It  is  only  since  the  Incarnation,  and  for  those 
who  believe  in  it,  that  light  and  immortality  have 
been  brought  to  light  through  the  Gospel.  It  is 
this  only  which  enables  men  of  all  nations  to 
tread  firmly  among  things  unseen,  and  to  rest 
in  the  knowledge  of  God,  as  seen  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ.  And  so  God  poured  out  His  riches  of 
strength  and  beauty,  of  wisdom,  honour  and  plea- 
sure, upon  the  nations  of  the  world,  but  did  not  give 
them  the  last  best  gift  of  rest :  and  men  tried  one 
after  another  of  the  avenues  to  divine  truth,  and 
turned  back  from  them  disappointed  and  discouraged. 
Thus  God  in  His  wisdom  had  decreed,  as  our  poet 
words  it  so  well, — 

*'  For  if  I  sliould  (said  He) 
Bestow  this  jewel  also  ou  My  creature, 
He  would  adore  My  gifts  instead  of  Me, 
And  rest  in  nature,  not  the  God  of  nature  : 

So  both  should  losers  be. 

Yet  let  him  keep  the  rest. 
But  keep  them  with  repining  restlessness  : 
Let  him  be  rich  and  weary  that  at  least, 
If  goodness  lead  him  not,  yet  weariness 

May  toss  him  to  My  breast  ''^" 

istcnce  is  the  error  from  which  it  should  be  the  aim  of  life  to 
extricate  ourselves  [Schopenhauer,  Die  Welt  ah  Wille,  ii.  p.  494]  ; 
and  a  sixth  boasts  of  the  moral  superiority  of  a  subjective  immor- 
tality in  the  minds  of  others,  over  the  old  objective  immortality 
which  is  radically  selfish  [Comte,  Catechisnie  Positiviste,  Preface, 
p.  xxxvi.] ; — I  am  thankful  that  God  has  not  left  men,  even  in  this 
enlightened  age,  to  grope  after  their  future  destiny  by  the  feeble 
rays  of  their  unassisted  reason,  whether  speculative  or  moral." 
"  George  Herbert,  The  Pulley. 


107 


LECTURE   IV. 


PSALM  cxix.  129,  130. 

Thy  testimonies  are  wonderful :    therefore  doth  my  soul  keep 

them. 
The  entrance  of  thy  word  giveth  light :  it  giveth  understanding 

unto  the  simple. 


THE  CHEISTIAN  EEVELATION  CONSIDERED  AS  TRUTH 
BOTH  IDEAL  AND  PRACTICAL. 

"  The  world  by  (its)  wisdom  knew  not  God."  Revelation  the  just 
harmony  of  the  spiritual  and  external. 

Ideal  Truth  (1)  Comprehensive:  the  One  and  the  Many. — The 
Trinity. — Union  of  tie  Finite  and  Infinite  in  the  Incarnation 
and  Atonement.  —  Christian  doctrine  of  Human  Nature :  its 
fearlessness. — (2)  Mysterious  :  Mysteries  in  nature  and  thought, 
lead  us  to  accept  those  of  Christian  doctrine. —  (3)  Bicxhaustille : 
The  Bible  compared  with  other  religious  books. 

Practical  Truth  (1)  Authoritative :  Our  Saviour's  claims  compared 
with  those  of  Buddha  and  Mahomet. — The  Prophets. — Miracles. 
— Instinct  for  authority  in  human  nature  :  how  it  avenges  itself 
if  suppressed, — Justin  Martyr  :  freedom  in  submission  to  the 
Truth. — (2)  Definite  and  intelliyiUe :  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
compared  with  other  religious  formulas. — (3)  Permanent  and 
concrete :  combination  of  flexibility  with  firmness.  —  Contrast 
with  other  religions. — Union  of  Fact  and  Symbol  the  type  of 
truth. — Biblical  history. — St.  Paul  and  St.  Ignatius. — Modern 
Gnosticism. 

fj^  n  E  substance  of  our  former  Lecture  may  be 
summed  up  in  two  well-known  sentences  of  St. 
Paul.  In  the  first,  as  you  will  remember,  he  speaks 
of  the  nations  of  the  world  as  moved  by  the  Lord 
to  seek  Him,   if  haply  they  might  feel  after  ILim 


108    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

and  find  Him  (Acts  xvii.  24  foil.).  In  the  second 
He  declares  that  ''  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world 
by  (its)  wisdom  knew  not  God"  (1  Cor.  i.  21).  It 
was  God's  will  that  the  heathen  should  seek  Him, 
and  seek  Him  hopefully,  in  oracles  and  portents,  in 
the  forms  of  kings  and  heroes  and  helpful  deities, 
and  in  the  supposed  inspirations  of  lawgivers  and 
prophets.  It  was  His  will  also  that  they  should  not 
find  Him  by  efi'orts  which  they  might  call  and  fancy 
to  be  their  own.  Hence  all  the  long  periods  of  hea- 
thenism, both  past  and  present,  may  be  considered 
by  the  Christian  student  as  periods  of  probation, 
in  which  the  Divine  Logos,  or  Eeason,  is  drawing 
out  and  establishing  the  character  of  each  race  and 
nation  ;  teaching  sometimes  by  hope  and  sometimes 
by  disappointment,  till  the  time  of  His  revelation 
should  be  full,  and  the  race  be  ready  to  accept  the 
Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  Then 
comes  the  harvest  of  souls,  and  the  known  or  un- 
known labourers,  who  have  worked  for  a  "  Saviour 
of  the  world"  whose  name  they  never  heard,  have 
their  work  at  last  crowned  and  blessed  (John  iv.  38, 
42).  Then  God-fearing  men  leap  forward  to  the 
Light  and  embrace  the  Truth,  because  they  find 
in  it  such  marks  of  heavenly  beauty  as  they  longed 
to  find,  and  found  not,  in  the  phantoms  they  were 
pursuing. 

Some  of  these  marks  I  propose,  if  God  gives  me 
strength,  to  set  before  you  to-day.  ^N"©  one  can  pro- 
fess to  enumerate  them  all,  and  therefore  I  must  beg 
your  indulgence  if  I  pass  over  many  a  subtle  and 
delicate  element,  many  a  delightful  and  lovely  fea- 


IV.]         Union  of  Wondroiisness  and  Simplicitij.       109 

ture  of  Divine  Truth,  which  your  hearts  individually 
prize  land  cherish.  But  I  trust  that  those  chosen 
will  at  any  rate  be  distinctive  and  significant.  Nor 
do  I  suppose  that  there  will  be  any  dispute  as  to 
the  fundamental  principle,  which  indeed  involves 
all  the  rest,  that  the  one  true  revelation  must  be 
at  once  Ideal  and  Practical,  both  the  highest  plii- 
losophy  and  the  most  salutary  discipline.  This  is 
the  point,  as  all  doubtless  have  perceived,  on  whicli 
the  poet  of  Holy  Scripture,  the  writer  of  the  119th 
Psalm,  has  rested  for  the  moment  in  the  verses  of 
my  text.  He  is  filled  in  the  inner  man  with  the 
mystery,  depth  and  richness  of  the  revelation,  which 
is  the  mirror  of  the  incomprehensible  and  inexhaust- 
ible fulness  of  God  the  giver  of  Truth.  "  Thy  testi- 
monies are  wonderful :  therefore  doth  my  soul  keep 
them."  Then  he  turns  round  and  looks  outside  him, 
and  observes  that  character  of  direct  utility,  of  power 
in  the  regulation  of  life,  which  adapts  God's  Law  to 
the  every-day  needs  of  human  kind.  "  The  entrance 
of  Thy  word  giveth  light :  it  giveth  understanding 
unto  the  simple."  Revelation,  as  he  saw  it,  aud 
as  we  see  it,  is  fitted  both  for  gentle  and'  simple,  for 
the  wise  and  the  unwise,  the  philosopher  and  the 
peasant.  It  is  the  right  and  well-proportioned  mix- 
ture of  the  internal  and  external,  lifting  the  people 
to  that  which  is  inward  and  spiritual,  aud  bringing 
down  the  proud  to  the  practical  and  positive,  and 
is  only  complete  because  it  unites  both  ^ 

'  Cp.  Pascal,  Fensees,  part  2,  art.  4,  §  3,  p.  167: — "  Les  autrcs 
religions,  comme  les  paiennts,  sont  plus  populaires ;  car  dies  con- 
sistent toutes  en  exterieur :  mais  ellcs  ne  sont  pas  pour  les  gens 
habiles.     Una  religion  purcment  intellcctuelle  scrait  plus  propor- 


110    Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical    [Lect. 

I. 

Under  these  two  great  heads,  then,  of  Ideal  and 
Practical  Truth,  I  shall  offer  to  your  notice  some  of 
the  most  striking  characteristics  of  Christian  doc- 
trine. And  first,  out  of  the  marks  which  Ideal  Truth 
should  bear,  I  have  chosen  three,  which  a  very  slight 
reflection  will  prove  to  be  necessary  to  any  system 
which  should  claim  our  allegiance.  Ideal  truth, 
I  say,  must  be  comprehensive^  must  be  mysterious^ 
must  be  inexhaustihle^  and  Christian  doctrine  has 
all  these  qualities  far  above  any  other  religious  sys- 
tem of  which  the  world  has  ever  even  dreamed. 

1.  It  must  he  comprehensive. 
No  one,  I  presume,  will  throw  doubt  on  this  in 
an  age  when  to  be  "one-sided"  is  generally  recog- 
nized as  an  obvious  defect :  and  in  speaking  of  Pan- 
theism and  Deism,  we  have  already  pointed  out  the 
dangers  of  "  one-sidedness  "  in  religion.  Some  men 
see  only  one  substance  in  the  universe,  and  reduce 
everything  to  a  vague  indifference,  a  featureless  one- 
ness, from  which  will  and  morality  are  absent. 
Others,  in  their  cold  and  proud  deism,  see  in  the 
world  many  parallel  wills  and  powers,  of  which  God's 
is  the  first  and  greatest,  but  the  most  distant  and 
the  least  practically  important.  Now  it  is  clear  that 
Pantheism  and  Deism,  the  assertion  of  the  one  with- 

tionee  aux  habiles  ;  mais  elle  ne  servirait  pas  au  peuple.  La  seule 
religion  chretienne  est  proportionee  a  tous,  etant  melee  d'exterieur 
et  d'interieur.  Elle  el^ve  le  peuple  a  I'interieur,  et  abaisse  les 
superbes  a  I'exterieur ;  et  n'est  pas  parfaite  sans  les  deux :  car 
il  faut  que  le  peuple  entende  I'esprit  de  la  lettre,  et  que  les  ha- 
biles soumettent  leur  esprit  a  la  lettre,  en  pratiquant  ce  qu'il  y 
a  d'exterieur." 


ly.]     Pantheism  and  Deism  mutiiallij  exclusive.      Ill 

out  the  many,  and  the  assertion  of  the  many  without 
the  one,  being  mutually  exclusive  opposites,  cannot 
both  be  true.  Yet,  if  mere  simplicity  were  to 
be  considered  a  mark  of  truth,  either  of  these  rival 
theories  might  be  thought  superior  to  Christian  doc- 
trine. But  so  far  frotu  being  true,  each  of  these  sys- 
tems, as  we  have  seen,  contradicts  or  overlooks  fun- 
damental facts  of  reason  and  experience,  and  leads 
directly  to  moral  consequences  of  the  most  obviously 
evil  kind.  We  have  seen  also  that  Pantheism  and 
Deism  are  the  underlying  principles  of  the  various 
religious  systems  or  heretical  doctrines  which  lie  to 
the  right  and  left  of  Christian  doctrine.  It  is  clear, 
then,  that  mere  simplicity,  that  is  to  say,  the  adop- 
tion of  a  single  principle  to  explain  all  that  exists, 
is  no  sure  test  of  ideal  truth. 

Yet  I  am  far  from  supposing  that  the  natural  ten- 
dencies of  human  belief,  whether  philosophical  or 
theological,  which  Christians  are  called  upon  to 
controvert,  are  necessarily  devoid  of  truth.  On  the 
contrary,  it  seems  a  certain  axiom,  that  whatever 
large  bodies  of  men  are  prone  to  believe,  has  in  it 
an  element  of  truth.  Even  of  individuals  we  feel 
bound  to  say  that  none  is  so  depraved  as  not  to  be, 
to  some  extent,  a  mirror  of  Divine  truth.  Only  Ideal 
Truth  will  combine  all  these  varied  and  partial  rays 
and  reflections  into  a  white  and  steadfast  light,  such 
as  seems  truly  to  be  an  effluence  from  the  throne  of 
God. 

For  consider  this,  that  God  has  fashioned  all  the 
minds  of  men  created  in  His  image,  so  that  all  their 
thoughts  are  in  some  true  sense  His  thoughts.     He 


112    Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

it  is  alone  who  has  given  them  the  power  with  which 
they  grasp  this  or  that  side  of  His  glory  and  His 
beauty.  We  could  think  nothing  without  His  will. 
Must  not,  then,  ideal  truth  unite  all  these  different 
points  of  view,  and  combine  all  that  can  be  shewn 
to  be  natural  for  man  to  think  or  believe  about 
Him? 

It  is  not  difficult  to  shew  that  such  ideal  compre- 
hensiveness is  a  distinctive  mark  of  the  Christian 
creed,  which  being  equally  opposed  to  Pantheism 
and  Deism,  combines  the  two  opposite  apprehensions 
of  the  One  and  the  Many. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  cardinal  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  in  Unity.  Does  not  this  involve  the  as- 
sertion, that  in  the  most  profound  object  of  faith  there 
is  found  co-existing  Unity  and  Multiplicity,  the  One 
and  the  Many  ?  Or  take  the  other  great  doctrines 
of  the  Incarnation  and  Atonement.  The  most  as- 
tonishing thing  about  them  is  their  conciliation  of 
what  seems  most  opposite.  In  the  Incarnation  we 
have  offered  to  our  belief  the  absolute  Union  of  the 
Infinite  with  the  Finite,  of  the  Divine  Nature  with 
the  Human,  in  one  Christ.  In  the  Atonement,  we  have 
the  single  perfect  mystical  sacrifice  "  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world"  (Eev.  xiii.  8),  and  offered 
eternally  in  heaven,  yet  complete  in  the  short  mo- 
ments of  the  historical  and  exemplary  death  of  Jesus 
on  Calvary.  So,  again,  we  have  the  one  Christ 
dying  once-  for  all  in  perfect  obedience,  yet  sum- 
ming up  and  representing  the   successive   death  to 

^  Roma7lsy\.  10  (e<^an-a^)  ;  Helrews'iTi.  28  {ana^);X.  10  {ecf^dira^); 
1  Peter  HI  18  {&ira$). 


IV.]      Comprehensiveness  of  Christian  Doctrine.       113 

sin  of  each  individual  of  the  human  race^,  and  ex- 
tending the  power  of  His  reconciling  blood  even  to 
angels;  principalities,  and  powers,  and  the  whole 
created  universe,  seen  and  unseen  ^ 

Look,  again,  at  the  Christian  doctrine  of  human 
nature,  how  fearless  it  is,  how  unlike  the  temporizing, 
tentative  expedients  of  human  systems.  What  other 
religion  has  anything  like  the  same  breadth  of  view 
on  this  mysterious  subject  ?  None  can  speak  in 
stronger  terms  of  the  constraining  power  of  Divine 
grace,  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  Father's 
"  drawing  "  before  a  soul  can  come  to  Christ  (John 
vi.  44),  of  the  inability  of  man  to  do  any  good  ac- 
tion without  God's  help  (Eph.  ii.  8,  &c.) ;  yet  none 
is  so  jealous  in  asserting  human  free-will,  and  so  in- 
tolerant of  a  depressing  philosophy  of  fatalism.  But 
lest  it  should  be  said  that  the  doctrine  of  grace  is 
held  by  one  sect  of  believers  and  the  doctrine  of  free  - 
will  by  another,  look  at  Jeremiah,  who  has  no  sooner 
told  us  of  the  potter's  vessels,  made  and  marred  at 
pleasure,  than  he  asserts  the  universal  power  of  re- 
pentance (Jeremiah  xviii.  1 — 10).  Or  recollect  St. 
Paul's  striking  aphorism  to  the  Philippians,  in  which 
he  co-ordinates  grace  and  free-will :  "  Woi-k  out  your 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling  :  for  it  is  God 
which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 

'  2  Cor.  V.  14:  "For  the  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us:  be- 
cause we  thus  judge,  that  if  one  died  for  all,  therefore  all  died" 
(Rev.  V.)    Rom.  vi.  6  :  "  Our  old  man  is  cnicified  with  Him,"  t&c. 

*  In  Col.  i.  20  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  blood  of  the  cross  recon- 
ciling all  things  to  God,  "  whether  they  be  things  in  earth  or 
things  in  heaven."     Cp.  Rom.  viii.  19,  "the  earnest  expectation 
of  the  creature,"  i.e.  of  creation,  with  Mark  xvi.  15. 
I 


114    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

good  pleasure"  (Phil.  ii.  12,  13).  Had  but  Buddha 
been  able  to  say  this,  how  different  might  have  been 
the  condition  of  the  Eastern  world  ^ ! 

Nay,  even  in  those  Christians  who  have  a  stronger 
tendency  to  one  side  of  this  conception  than  to  the 
other,  the  balance  of  the  Biblical  idea  has  not  been 
Avithout  its  effects  in  steadying  them.  It  must  never 
be  forgotten  that  St.  Augustine,  who  was  the  cham- 
pion of  grace  against  the  Pelagians,  was  equally  the 
champion  of  free-will  against  the  ManichsBans. 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  illustrations  of  this 
topic,  but  enough  has  been  said  by  way  of  example  ^. 
The  outsider  may  come  to  these  doctrines  with  a  pre- 
judice against  them.  He  may  naturally  incline  to 
one  or  other  form  of  heresy  respecting  them.  His 
sympathies  may  be  Sabellian  or  Arian  in  regard  to 

^  His  principles  were  : — "  "Well-makers  lead  the  water  (where- 
ever  they  like)  ;  fletchers  bend  the  arrow  ;  carpenters  bend  a  log 
of  wood;  good  people  fashion  themselves." — Bhammapada,  Yerses 
80  and  145.  "By  oneself  the  evil  is  done,  by  oneself  one  suffers; 
by  oneself  evil  is  left  undone,  by  oneself  one  is  purified.  Purity 
and  impurity  belong  to  one  self;  no  one  can  purify  another." — 
Ibid.,  165.  Cp.  Mahd-Parinihhdna-SuUa,  ii.  9,  p.  27,  where  he 
defines  faith  as  "  believing  the  truth  to  have  been  proclaimed  by 
the  Blessed  One,  of  advantage  in  this  world,  passing  not  away, 
welcoming  all,  leading  to  salvation,  and  to  be  attained  to  by  the 
wise,  each  one  for  himself."  It  is  also  one  of  the  principles  of 
Buddhism  that  any  one  can  become  a  Buddha,  as  good  as  Gotama. 

®  The  reader  may  be  referred  particularly  to  [Abp.]  Trench's 
Hulsean  Lectures  for  1845,  especially  Lectures  2  and  3  on  the 
""Unity  of  Scripture"  and  "the  Manifoldness  of  Scripture,"  for 
many  beautiful  thoughts  bearing  on  this  topic ;  and  to  Dr.  Lid- 
don's  University  Sermons,  2nd  series,  pp.  83  foil.  (1879),  on  the 
Bible  as  it  is,  with  its  exhaustless  variety  and  living,  spiritual 
unity,  contrasted  with  the  Bible  such  as  man  would  probably  have 
made  it  on  an  a  priori  system. 


IV.]  Element  of  Mijstery  in  all  Truth.  115 

the  Trinity ;  Eutychian  or  Nestorian  in  respect  to 
the  Incarnation  ;  Calvinistic  or  Pelagian  on  the 
question  of  human  freedom.  But  even  if  he  can- 
not readily  accept  the  fulness  of  the  Catholic  doc- 
trines, he  cannot  deny  the  immensity  of  their  grasp, 
the  wonderful  sweep  of  vision  with  which  they  com- 
bine all  elements  of  thought  which  can  be  brought  be- 
fore the  mind.  He  cannot  hesitate  to  admit  that  some 
such  breadth  of  doctrine  is  at  least  more  like  Divine 
truth  than  any  that  can  be  put  in  comparison  with  it. 

2.  Ideal  Truth  must  he  mysterious. 
Truth  of  any  kind,  that  is  really  comprehensive, 
cannot  fail  to  contain  an  element  of  mystery.  This 
second  attribute  follows  naturally  and  inevitably  from 
the  first,  and  is  no  speciality  of  theology  as  distinct 
from  other  sciences.  Even  the  simplest  and  most 
abstract  study,  that  of  pure  number,  which  seems 
to  make  no  assumptions,  has  its  marvels  and  its  sur- 
prises :  and  as  we  advance  in  the  scale  of  sciences, 
taking  into  account  time  and  space  and  organisation, 
and  life  and  thought,  the  mysteries  thicken  about  us. 
Thus  most  schoolboys  are  familiar  with  the  lines  in 
conic  sections  which  are  always  approiaching  and 
never  meeting ',  two  properties  which  naturally  seem 
quite  inconsistent.  Or,  to  use  another  illustration 
which  recent  speculation  has  well-nigh  established, 
you  take  up  a  crystal,  and  perhaps  view  it  poetically 
as  a  type  of  coldness  and  hardness,  of  stillness  and 
repose.      But  we  are  now  told  ^  that  the  molecules 

'  The  hyperbola  and  its  asymptote. 

*  See   The  Atomic  TJieory,  by  Prof.  Ad.  Wurtz,  in  the  Inter- 
national Scientific  Series,  pp.  310 — 314. 

i2 


11 G     Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

or  aggregates  of  atoms  which  compose  it  are  in  per- 
petual vibration  and  rotation,  and  that  the  very  con- 
stancy and  regularity  of  their  agitation  is  the  cause 
of  the  apparent  solidity  of  the  substance. 

And  when  from  inanimate  things  we  pass  to  life 
and  thought,  we  find  mysteries  increase.  The  sim- 
plest instance  of  the  union  of  the  one  and  the  many 
is  inexplicable.  Philosophers  have  never  settled  the 
much-vexed  question  of  what  is  the  import,  what  the 
idea,  underlying  the  common  names  given  to  a  class 
or  genus.  Men  are  in  turns  Eealists,  Conceptualists, 
^Nominalists,  or  what  you  will,  but  the  battle  be- 
tween them  is  still  undecided ;  and  in  point  of  fact 
it  makes  very  little  diiference  to  the  mystery  what 
theory  you  hold.  Take  a  number  of  persons,  and  ask 
yourself  what  is  meant  by  the  common  name  "  Man," 
what,  in  fact,  is  human  nature?  The  Nominalist 
will  tell  you  that  it  is  a  mere  abstraction ;  but  it  is 
just  as  astonishing  a  thing,  whether  you  call  it  an 
abstraction,  or  prefer  to  describe  it,  with  Plato,  as 
an  eternal  idea.  The  fact  that  given  a  man,  of  what- 
ever race,  you  can  talk  to  and  have  sympathy  with 
him,  because  he  is  a  man,  not  a  beast  or  a  stone,  is 
a  mystery  attaching  to  human  nature,  however  we 
may  describe  it.  Yet  individuality  is  more  cha- 
racteristic of  human  beings  than  of  any  others  of 
which  we  have  immediate  experience.  No  two  men 
are  alike,  and  the  better  we  know  them,  the  greater 
differences  we  perceive  between  them.  The  student, 
then,  of  human  nature  is  daily  becoming  more  con- 
scious of  this  mystery  that  the  human  race  is  one 
with  an  extraordinary  oneness,  while  the .  individuals 


lY.]  Examples  of  Christian  Mysteries.  117 

who  compose  it  are  many  and  diverse  from  one  an- 
other with  a  marvellous  diversity. 

It  is  therefore  mere  common  sense  to  believe  that 
in  the  highest  of  all  regions  of  Truth,  that  which 
concerns  the  nature  of  God  Himself,  there  should 
be  such  mysteries  as  the  Christian  creed  proclaims. 
The  fact  that  revelation  speaks  to  us  of  what  is  so 
infinitely  above  our  scope  and  measure,  makes  it 
absolutely  certain  that  mystery  is  to  be  expected  in 
the  message.  Hence  the  trained  and  balanced  mind 
finds  no  shock  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Union  of  Three 
Persons  in  One  God,  or  in  the  co-ordination  of  per- 
fect Justice  and  perfect  Love  in  the  Deity,  or  in  the 
entrance  of  man  into  covenant  with  God,  or  in  the 
Union  of  the  Divine  and  Human  natures  in  the  one 
Christ,  or  in  His  mysterious  presence  in  the  Eucha- 
rist as  taught  by  the  Church  of  England,  or  in  the 
dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  agency  of 
His  Church. 

The  mystery  (I  say)  is  no  shock  to  a  reasonable 
man.  Nay,  it  is  rather  one  of  the  signs  or  marks 
which  he  naturally  expects;  and  the  contraries  of 
all  the  positions  which  I  have  just  enumerated,  would 
be  discredited  by  the  very  fact  of  their  supposed 
greater  transparency  to  the  human  understanding. 
Who  would  not  at  once  doubt,  for  instance,  if  we 
taught  that  God  was  Love  without  Justice,  or 
Justice  without  Love?  Who  does  not  see  that,  as 
our  reformers  say,  "  Transubstantiation  destroys  the 
nature  of  a  Sacrament,"  that  is,  removes  it  from 
mystery  to  one-sided  marvel,  or  at  least  tends  to  do 
so?     While  the  coldly  transparent  idea  of  a  mere 


118    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

commemoration  is  unfitting,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
the  highest  act  of  communion  with  God.  So  it  is 
also  with  regard  to  the  other  doctrines  which  I  have 
mentioned. 

Of  course,  all  these  articles  of  faith  are  supported 
by  other  evidence,  internal  and  external,  and  could 
not  be  received  without  it^  All  that  I  am  here 
arguing  is,  that  their  mysteriousness  is  ]pro  tanto  in 
their  favour,  and  not,  as  some  superficial  thinkers 
hold,  adverse  to  their  credibility. 

3.  Ideal  Truth  must  he  inexhaustible. 

Here  we  take  another  step  onward,  as  by  a  na- 
tural ascent,  from  what  has  just  been  admitted; 
and  this  attribute  is  as  clear  a  reflection  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  Deity  as  either  of  the  foregoing.  As 
God  comprehends  everything,  and  is  in  a  region  high 
above  our  understandings,  so  also  He  is  the  ever- 
fresh  and  living  fountain  of  life  and  grace.  We  ex- 
pect, therefore,  that  ideal  Truth  should  have  the  same 
freshness,  that  it  should  never  be  effete,  that  it 
should  adapt  itself  to  all  ages  and  characters  and 
nations  and  climes,  with  new  and  unexpected  vigour. 

This  is  true,  undoubtedly,  with  respect  to  the 
Gospel  message. 

We  see  it,  perhaps,  most  clearly  and  astonishingly 
in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which,  though  they  have  been 

®  The  defect  of  evidence,  or  rather  the  strong  contrary  evidence, 
at  once  separates  the  true  mysteries  of  the  Christian  creed  from 
false  ones,  like  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
and  Papal  Infallibility.  But  apart  from  other  evidence,  they  have 
a  one-sided  artificial  character  which  ought  to  strike  the  trained 
theologian,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation. 


TV.]  Inexhaiisiihilitij  of  Hohj  Scripture.  119 

read  and  commented  on  with  such  close,  eager,  and 
intelligent  criticism  by  the  men  of  almost  every  race, 
and  with  such  immense  and  wonderful  patience,  as 
no  other  books  in  the  world  have  ever  had  expended 
on  them,  yet  after  two  and  three  thousand  years  of 
experience,  are  continually  yielding  fresh  treasures 
to  those  who  study  them  patiently,  and  enter  into 
them  with  humility  and  love.  This  is  a  matter  of 
simple  observation,  which  is  daily  being  tested.  The 
inexhaustible  riches  of  the  Law  struck  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  writer  of  the  119th  Psalm,  who  has  re- 
corded his  impression  in  terms  which  are  themselves 
an  example  of  the  eternal  force  and  power  of  Biblical 
language.  But  how  much  clearer  is  this  richness  to 
us  who  have  the  key  to  the  Law  in  the  Gospel,  and 
who  have  the  substance  of  the  Gospel  itself.  Ask 
those  who  really  try  and  test  it,  ask  any  devout  sick 
person,  any  reverent  and  learned  student,  any  pains- 
taking preacher,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  they 
daily  find  a  new  beauty  and  a  new  use,  a  new  music 
and  a  new  instruction,  in  their  reading. 

It  is  true  that  other  religious  bodies  speak  even 
more  highly  of  their  sacred  books,  and  treat  them 
with  a  superstitious  and  exaggerated  reverence.  The 
Yedas,  as  we  have  seen,  are  thought  to  be  the  eter- 
nal voice  of  the  Divine  Being.  The  Koran  is  simi- 
larly regarded  as  the  uncreated  word  of  God^°; 
while  the  Granth  of  the  Sikhs,  which  no  Western 
can   read    with   patience  ^^,    is   actually   worshipped. 

1°  Tiele,  Outlines  of  Hist,  of  Religion,  §  63,  p.  100,  E.  T.  1877; 
cp.  T.  P.  Hughes,  Notes  on  Muhamrnadanism,  ed.  2,  pp.  14  foil. 

"  See  Dr.  E.  Trumpp's  Preface  to  his  translation  of  the  Adi 
Granth,  p.  vii.  (Lond.,  1877) : — "It  is  for  us  occidentals  a  most 
painful  task  to  read  only  a  single  Eag ;  and  I  duubt  if  any  ordi- 


120    Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

But  how  formal,  how  unreal,  is  the  use  of  these 
books  to  the  worshippers  themselves,  compared,  for 
instance,  with  our  own  use  of  the  Psalter  ^^ !  Most 
of  them  are  actually  in  a  dead  language  to  those 
who  hear  or  recite  them,  and  no  more  suit  even 
the  formalities  of  the  present  day  than  so  much 
jargon.  But  were  they  never  more  living?  No 
doubt  they  were,  but  only  with  a  very  meagre  and 
impotent  life.  For  us  at  least  it  is  impossible  to  read 
a  few  pages  merely  of  these  writings  without  feeling 
wearied  and  critical.  This  is  confessed  by  all  who 
have  taken  the  greatest  pains  to  make  them  known, 
and  to  popularize  them  among  us.  This  is  the  verdict 
of  the  editor  of  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  whose 
fairness  and  peculiar  competency  as  a  witness  on 
such  a  point  no  one  is  likely  to  call  in  question  ^^^  :  — 

"No  doubt  (he  says)  there  is  much  in  these  old  books 
that  is  startUng  by  its  very  simplicity  and  truth,  much  that 
is  elevated  and  elevating,  much  that  is  beautiful  and  sub- 
lime ;  but  people  who  have  vague  ideas  of  primeval  wisdom, 
and  the  splendour  of  Eastern  poetry,  will  soon  find  them- 
selves grievously  disappointed.  It  cannot  be  too  strongly 
stated,  that  the  chief,  in  many  cases  the  only,  interest  of  the 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East  is  historical ;  that  much  in  them  is 
extremely  childish,  tedious,  if  not  repulsive ;  and  that  no 
one  but  the  historian  will  be  able  to  understand  the  im- 
portant lessons  which  they  teach." 

That  this  criticism  could  be  applied  to  the  Bible 
even  by  its  worst  enemies  seems   impossible.     But 

nary  reader  will  have  the  patience  to  proceed  to  the  second  E5g, 
after  he  shall  have  perused  the  first." 

1'-  See  Dean  Church's  two  Lectures  on  The  Sacred  Poetry  of 
Early  Religions  (Lond.,  1874),  esp.  pp.  37  Ml.  and  77. 

13  Prof.  F.  Max  Miiller,  in  his  Preface  to  Sacred  Boohs  of  the 
East:  Programme  of  translation,  vol.  i.  p.  xliii,  Oxf.  1879. 


IV.]  The  Bible  and  other  Sacred  Boolcs.  121 

here  you  have  the  best  friend  amongst  Europeans  of 
the  saered  books  of  the  East,  including  the  Yedas 
and  the  Koran,  warning  their  readers  not  to  expect 
much  from  them,  except  a  few  scattered  beauties,  and 
a  certain  amount  of  hardly-won  historical  informa- 
tion. Infidels  may  scoff  at  portions  of  the  Bible : 
they  may  attack  detached  pieces  of  its  morality,  or 
laugh  at  details  of  its  history,  or  bring  out  with 
triumph  the  supposed  incongruity  of  some  of  its  doc- 
trines— all  this  and  more  they  have  done  and  will 
continue  to  do,  but  if  they  have  any  remains  of  fair- 
ness, they  will  at  the  same  time  admit  the  marvel- 
lous literary  supremacy  of  the  Bible,  even  in  trans- 
lations, its  unique  power  to  soothe  and  to  alarm  the 
conscience,  its  extraordinary  unity  of  tone  from  Gen- 
esis to  Eevelation,  its  adaptation  to  the  genius  of 
every  nation  into  whose  language  it  has  been  ren- 
dered, its  authority  at  every  stage  of  civilisation  ^^  To 
win  this  concession  is  to  win  perhaps  as  much  as  we 
have  any  right  to  expect.  For  in  argument,  we  can 
never  absolutely  and  beyond  self-willed  contradiction 
prove  the  occurrence  of  any  long-past  events,  or  the 
morality  of  past  actions,  nor  can  we  give  men,  who 
may  have  vitiated  their  perception  of  truth  by  scoffing 
and  self-assertion,   the  clearness  of  vision  which  is 

'*  The  only  conceivable  parallel  to  the  literary  supremacy  of  the 
Bible  is  to  be  found  in  the  Homeric  'poems.  But  these  fall  at  once 
into  the  background  when  considered  as  religious  books,  and  as 
such  were  condemned  by  the  higher  moral  sense  of  the  Greek 
nation  itself,  or  allegorized  into  fancies  far  removed  from  the  poel's 
own  intention.  The  Bible  lias  sometimes  suffered  from  excessive 
allegorizing,  but  the  primary  sense  is  always  fruitful  in  moral 
lessons.    See  additional  note,  p.  141  foil. 


122    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

necessary  for  the  acceptance  of  Christian  mysteries. 
What  we  can  do  is  to  observe,  and  make  others  ob- 
serve, the  power  of  facts  present  before  our  eyes ; 
and  these  do  exhibit  to  us  a  virtue  and  potency  in 
the  Bible  which  is  Divine,  if  there  be  such  a  thing 
as  divinity  anywhere  in  operation  in  the  world. 

11. 

Such,  then,  is  the  character  of  wondrous  fulness 
and  inexhaustible  profundity  which  we  naturally 
ascribe  to  ideal  Truth,  and  which  we  find  really  in 
the  Christian  revelation.  There  is  also  a  light-giving 
simplicity,  expected  by  the  reason  as  the  complement 
to  these  qualities,  the  presence  of  which  is  equally 
marked.  Let  us  consider  this  under  the  three  heads 
•  oi  \.  author itfj ;  2.  definiteness  ;  ^.permanence:  which 
are,  as  you  will  perceive,  the  proper  practical  coun- 
terparts to  the  three  qualities  we  have  just  been  con- 
sidering in  the  first  part  of  this  Lecture.  They  are 
such  as  fit  the  message,  which  we  have  shewn  to 
be  worthy  of  the  Infinite  God,  to  the  needs  and 
capacities  of  finite  man. 

1.  That  the  Christian  revelation  is  authoritative  in 
a  distinct  and  superior  manner  no  one,  I  presume, 
will  be  likely  to  dispute.  Other  religious  systems 
may  indeed  claim  and  receive  as  great  or  greater  ex- 
ternal reverence.  The  flesh  may  be  kept  in  perpetual 
bondage  to  false  gods,  or  false  and  imperfect  creeds. 
But  the  soul  does  not  receive  that  support  and  motive- 
power  from  them  which  it  is  the  true  function  of 
authority  to  give.  Authority  is  not  tyranny,  but 
transmitted  power,  which  we  accept  and  incorporate 


IV.]  Our  Lord^s  claims  to  Authority.  123 

witli  our  own  powers.  And  this  power  is  certainly 
possessed  by  our  Master  in  a  degree  to  which  none 
other  can  approach. 

The  reason  of  this  is  clear.  Christ  alone,  of  all 
teachers  who  have  made  any  serious  claim  to  be  the 
instructors  of  the  souls  of  men,  has  proclaimed  Him- 
self the  Son  of  God,  one  with  the  Father  ^^  Setting 
aside  the  purely  legendary  creations  of  mythology, 
and  the  hollow  pretences  of  kings  and  emperors,  and 
the  vulgar  fanaticism  of  false  prophets  like  Simon 
Magus,  what  do  we  find  to  be  the  case  with  those 
teachers  who  have  made  an  abiding  impression  as 
founders  of  religions?  There  are  but  two,  namely 
Buddha  and  Mahomet,  who  have  any  right  even  to 
be  discussed,  and  they  most  distinctly  limit  their 
claims  to  the  narrow  circle  of  human  powers.  Buddha 
is  reverenced  just  because  his  death  was  a  more  com- 
plete annihilation  of  his  personality  than  that  of  any 
man  before  or  since.  In  his  triumph-song  he  glories 
in  destroying  the  principle  of  individual  life  so  en- 
tirely, that  he  can  never  rise  again  in  any  form. 

"  Many  a  house  of  life 
Hath  held  me— seeking  ever  him  who  WBOUght 
These  prisons  of  the  senses,  sorrow-fraught ; 

Sore  was  mj^  ceaseless  strife  ! 
But  now, 
Thou  builder  of  this  Tabernacle — Thou ! 
I  know  Thee !  never  shalt  thou  build  again 

These  walls  of  pain, 
Nor  raise  the  roof-tree  of  deceits,  nor  lay 

Presh  rafters  on  the  clay ; 

"  Cp.  the  interesting  short  passages  of  Origen  c.  Celsum,  vi.  11  ; 
and  Lactantius,  Bivm.  Inst  it.  v.  13;  and  the  full  statement  of  Dr. 
Liddon's  Bampton  Lectures,  Lect.  iv.  pp.  163—190,  2nd  ed.  1868. 


124    Christian  Truth  hoik  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

Broken  thy  house  is,  and  the  ridge-pole  split ; 

Delusion  fashioned  it ! 
Safe  pass  I  hence—  deliverance  to  obtain-^." 

And  though  Buddha  (if  we  may  trust  the  Pitakas) 
makes  absurd  pretensions  to  knowledge  and  virtue, 
and  on  the  day  of  his  death  outbrags  a  rival  teacher 
as  to  his  successful  attainment  of  a  useless  and  selfish 
apathy  ^^,  and  calls  on  all  men  who  wish  to  attain  the 
like  state  to  put  faith  in  him — yet  he  did  not  ima- 
gine himself  to  be  by  any  means  an  unique  person. 
It  is  one  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Buddhists  that  any 
one  can  become  a  Buddha  ^^,  as  powerful  as  Gotama, 
by  the  suppression  of  desires,  just  as  the  humanita- 
rian Ebionites  held  that  any  Christian  could  become 
a  Christ  by  keeping  the  Law  ^^. 
.    Mahomet,  for  his  part,  though  apparently  a  vainer 

^^  From  Edwin  Arnold's  poem,  The  Light  of  Asia,  fourth  ed., 
1880,  p.  178.  The  words,  of  which  this  passage  is  a  pretty  close 
poetical  version,  occur  in  the  Dhammapada,  verses  153,  154,  and 
are  supposed  to  have  been  uttered  by  Gotama  on  attaining  Buddha- 
hood,  under  the  Bo-tree  forty- five  years  before  his  death.  Cp.  Spence 
Hardy,  Manual  of  Buddhism,  p.  180;  Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  i. 
p,  103,  ed.  Ehys  Davids  (1880).  According  to  the  Lalita-Vis- 
tara,  however,  the  words  then  uttered  were : — "  The  vices  are  dried 
up;  they  will  not  flow  again;"  Max  Miiller,  Bhammapada,  p.  13, 
note.  The  "house-builder"  is  probably  the  spirit  of  desire  (tawha), 
perhaps  here  identified  with  Mara,  the  Tempter.  Craving,  Dis- 
content and  Lust  (Tawiha,  Arati  and  Raga)  are  sometimes  called 
daughters  of  Mara  [Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  p.  107). 

"  Mahd-Parinihbdna-Sutta,  eh.  iv.  §§  35  foil.  pp.  76—79.  The 
comparison  is  between  A/ara-Kalama,  who  was  not  aware  when 
500  carts  passed  by,  and  himself,  who  was  unconscious  of  a  great 
storm  of  rain,  lightning  and  thunder,  which  killed  two  peasants 
and  four  oxen  close  to  him. 

'**  See  Bhammapada,  ch.  xiv.,  called  The  Buddha. 

'*  S.  Hippolytus,  Refatatio  omnium  hccresium,  vii.  §  34,  p.  406. 


IV.]       Inferior  claims  of  Buddha  and  Mahomet.       125 

man  and  actuated  by  more  selfish  motives,  never  pro- 
fessed to  work  a  miracle,  while  he  admitted  the  mi- 
racles'of  Christ  and  of  the  Old  Testament  ^o.  He 
does  not  attempt  to  rise  above  the  position  of  a  pro- 
phet. Such,  too,  he  remains  in  the  traditions  of 
his  followers  outside  the  Koran,  even  though  marvels 
have  been  added  to  ornament  and  illustrate  his  story. 
Yet  it  is  striking  that  this  same  tradition,  which 
tacitly  but  clearly  allows  sinlessness  to  Christ,  who 
is  called  the  Servant,  the  Apostle,  the  Spirit  and  the 
Word  of  God,  should  speak  of  Mahomet  himself  merely 
as  "  a  servant  whose  sins  God  has  forgiven  ^i." 

There  is  little  need  to  remind  you  how  different 
from  these  are  the  claims  of  our  Blessed  Saviour.  He 
declares  Himself  the  only  source  of  light  and  life 
and  love  and  joy  and  peace  to  men;  He  is  their 
Lawgiver,  Eedeemer,  King,  and  future  Judge.     He 

^^  He  frequently  finds  fault  with  those  who  pressed  him  for 
signs,  declaring  the  Koran  itself  to  be  quite  a  sufficient  attestation 
of  his  mission :  see  Sura,  vii.  156,  xxvi.  1—5,  and  cp.  J.  W.  H.  Sto- 
bart,  Islam  a7id  its  Founder,  S.P.C.K.,  pp.  Ill  foil.  For  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  miracles  of  Christ,  including  some  of  those  of  the 
Apocryphal  Gospels,  see  Sura,  iii.  41,  v.  110 — 114.  Cp.  Hughes' 
Notes  on  Muhammadanism,  pp.  256  foil.  Eeferences  to  the  Old 
Testament  miracles  are  frequent.     See  additional  note  on  p.  142. 

^'  This  remarkable  Hadi's,  or  tradition,  is  given  by  T.  P.  Hughes, 
I.  c.  p.  258  foil.  At  the  resurrection  Musalmans  will  not  be  able 
to  move,  and  will  go  from  one  prophet  to  another  to  intercede  for 
them.  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  in  turn  will  remember  their 
sins,  and  send  them  on  to  another.  Moses,  remembering  the  slauo-h- 
ter  of  the  Egyptian,  "  will  say  '  Go  to  Jesus,  He  is  the  servant  of 
God,  the  Apostle  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  Word  of  God.' 
Then  they  will  go  to  Jesus,  and  He  will  say,  '  Go  to  Muhammad ; 
who  is  a  servant,  whose  sins  God  has  forgiven  both  first  and  last.' 
Then  the  Musalmans  will  come  to  me,  and  I  will  ask  permission  to 
go  into  God's  presence  and  intercede  for  them."  Thus  Mahomet 
ascribes  sin  to  all  the  prophets  and  to  himself,  but  not  to  Jesus. 


126    Christian  Truth  hoth  Ideal  and  Practical.     [Lect. 

commands  unquestioning  obedience  to  Himself  as 
having  all  power  given  to  Him  in  heaven  and  earth, 
and  as  knowing  and  being  known  by  the  Father 
with  a  fulness  of  reciprocal  knowledge  which  none 
can  attain,  except  as  He  wills  to  reveal  it  (Matt.  xi. 
27  foil. ;  Luke  x.  22  ;  Matt,  xxviii.  18).  The  souls 
that  are  given  to  Him  are  taken  as  His  royal  pos- 
session, and  none  can  pluck  them  out  of  His  hand. 
His  they  are  now,  and  His  they  will  be  at  the 
judgment-day. 

And  these  tremendous  claims  and  promises  come 
not  alone,  but  as  the  climax  of  a  long  series  of  mira- 
culous manifestations  of  *power,  and  of  prophetic  ut- 
terances in  the  Church  of  Israel.  Here  had  been, 
for  many  generations,  the  home  and  seat  of  religious 
authority,  expressing  itself  in  divers  modes,  sounding 
differently  in  the  Patriarchs  and  in  Moses,  in  Samuel, 
in  David,  in  Elijah,  in  Isaiah,  in  the  other  prophets, 
but  intensely  authoritative  in  all.  Each  of  these 
witnesses  confirms  those  that  have  gone  before  him, 
yet  each  points  onward  to  a  mightier  that  is  to 
follow,  till  all  are  summed  up  in  Christ.  And  He, 
speaking  as  never  man  spake,  and  confirming  His 
word  with  signs  that  exactly  harmonised  with  the 
truths  He  taught,  and  which  are  in  themselves  para- 
bles, prophecies,  and  instructions,  as  well  as  miracles, 
has  never  ceased  by  the  voices  of  His  ministers  to 
claim  the  same  absolute  authority  over  the  souls  of 
men,  and  to  promise  them  the  same  certainty  of  rest 
upon  His  word  as  perfect  Truth. 

So  much  is  commonly  acknowledged,  whatever 
gloss  or  interpretation  sceptics  may  put  upon  it; 
and  few,  if  any,  will  doubt  that  claims  like  these, 


IV,]     Instinct  for  Aidhoritij  in  Human  Nature.      127 

supported  by  the  guarantees  of  prophecy  and  mira- 
cles, are  exactly  fitted  to  carry  home  truth  to  ex- 
pectant human  hearts.  Experience  shews  that  men 
have  an  indomitable  instinct,  which  assures  them 
that  if  God  speaks  to  them  at  all.  He  will  speak  so 
as  to  make  Himself  felt,  and  will  not  leave  them  in 
uncertainty  ^-. 

But  those  who  suppress  this  instinct  in  one  di- 
rection, find  themselves  suffering  its  vengeance  in 
another.  The  man  who  shuts  up  all  revelation 
within  the  limits  of  scientific  or  metaphysical  dis- 
covery,  is   in  dire  danger   of  becoming   practically 

^  This  position  is  assumed  or  asserted  by  the  generality  of 
writers  on  evidences.  See,  for  a  full  statement,  Dr.  Mozley's  first 
Lecture,  Miracles  necessary  for  a  Revelation,  and  the  passages  quoted 
in  the  notes,  esp.  note  1.  I  will  add  two  from  writers  earlier  than 
those  he  refers  to,  John  Locke  and  Samuel  Clarke.  The  passages 
of  Locke  are  in  his  Reasonableness  of  Christianity,  §§  165  and  169, 
and  Discourse  on  Miracles,  pp.59,  60.  (London:  W.  Smith, 
1839.)  In  the  last  he  speaks  of  miracles  as  "the  basis  on  which 
Divine  mission  is  always  established,  and  consequently  that  foun- 
dation on  which  the  believers  of  any  Divine  revelation  must  ulti- 
mately bottom  their  faith."  Locke,  though  apparently  inclined  to 
Arianism,  and  a  strong  opponent  of  "priestcraft,"  was  a  serious 
believer  in  a  miraculous  revelation. 

Much  the  same  argument  is  used  by  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke  in  his 
Evidences  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,  prop.  ix.  p.  320,  7th 
ed.,  1728.  "  [A  revelation]  must,  moreover,  be  positively  and 
directly  proved  to  come  from  God  by  such  certain  signs  and  mat- 
ters of  fact,  as  may  be  undeniable  evidences  of  its  author's  having 
actually  a  Divine  commission.  For  otherwise,  as  no  evidence  can 
prove  a  doctrine  to  come  from  God,  if  it  be  either  impossible  or 
wicked  in  itself;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  neither  can  any  degree 
of  goodness  or  excellency  in  the  doctrine  itself,  make  it  certain, 
but  only  highly  probable,  to  have  come  from  God  ;  unless  it  has, 
moreover,  some  positive  and  direct  evidence  of  its  being  actually 
revealed." 


1:28     Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical    [Lect. 

an  atheist,  of  imagining  that  everything  has  a  his- 
tory, and  that  belief  in  God  and  morality,  like  other 
things,  is  a  simple  matter  of  spontaneous  develop- 
ment. He  is  apt,  at  least,  to  lose  all  the  freshness 
of  his  interest  in  the  masses  of  his  fellow-men  ^^  Or 
his  instinct  for  external  authority,  missing  its  right- 
ful satisfaction  in  the  historic  Christ  of  the  Gospels, 
forces  him  into  the  deification  of  the  human  race,  or 
of  some  conspicuous  part  of  it.  He  worships  the 
Idea  of  Law  and  Order,  as  the  heathen  world,  in  the 
first  centuries  after  Christ,  worshipped  the  Eoman 
Etnperor  and  the  genius  of  the  city  of  Eome,  which 
spread  material  peace  and  prosperity.  Or  like  the 
modern  Positivists,  with  their  "ghost"  of  a  re- 
ligion, he  worships  the  so-called  great  being  of 
humanity  ^^. 

Or,  it  may  be,  finding  no  rest  in  merely  huinan 
characters  and  institutions,  however  careful  he  may 
be  to  select  the  best  and  noblest  for  his  calendar  of 
saints,  he  entirely  loses  his  judgment,  and  sinks  into 
gross  credulity  and  superstition.  He  collects  trum- 
pery oracles  with  Porphyry ;  he  descends  into  caves, 
and  receives  monstrous  rites  of  initiation  with  Julian  ; 
he  asks  for  a  sign  from  heaven,  to  sanction  the  publi- 

^  Cp.  Origen  contra  Celsum,  vi.  1. 

**  Positivism  is  a  remarkable  product  of  the  heathen  sentiment, 
which  has  lingered  long  after  the  supposed  Christianisation  of 
Europe.  In  its  religious  aspect  it  is  essentially  an  extreme  form 
of  idolatry  or  creature-worship.  The  curious  sympathy  which 
A.  Comte  felt  for  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  is  perhaps  due  to 
some  extent  to  the  common  element  in  both,  derived  from  the 
extinct  Eoman  empire.  The  expression  "ghost"  I  borrow  from 
T.  Carlyle's  Reminiscences,  vol.  i.  p.  338  (1881). 


lY.]    TJie  Instinct  for  Authoritij  talcing  Vengeance.  129 

cation  of  a  deistic  book  with  Lord  Herbert  ^^ ;  or  he 
is  the  dupe  of  mediums  and  necromancers,  with  some 
of  the -would-be  enlightened  men  and  women  of  our 
own  day. 

Or  if  he  is  a  man  of  a  different  and  higher  temper, 
he  takes  refuge  in  an  ideal  Christology;  and  with 
one  hand  on  Kant  and  Schleiermacher,  and  the  other 
on  St.  Paul,  accepts  what  he  believes  to  be  the  Chris- 
tian life  and  spirit,  and  some  part  of  Christian  wor- 
ship, without  the  Christian  creed, — destined  to  the  sad 
disappointment  of  being  unable  to  transmit  to  others 
that  subjective  faith  which  he  prizes  so  highly  as  his 
own.  History  has  not  a  few  examples  of  philoso- 
phic theologians  of  this  class  who  have  started  aside 
from  the  historic  Christianity  in  which  they  were 

^'  In  his  Auiobiographj  (p.  242,  London,  J.  "Warwick,  1824)  he 
tells  us  that  he  was  in  doubt  whether  to  publish  his  book,  de 
Veritate,  criticizing  the  ordinary  theories  of  revelation,  and  stating 
his  own  modicum  of  supposed  Truth ;  and  that  he  prayed  to  God, 
kneeling  down  with  the  book  in  his  hand,  his  '*  casement  being 
opened  towards  the  south,  and  the  sun  shining  clear,  and  no  wind 
stirring."  In  his  prayer  he  declared  that  he  was  not  satisfied  whe- 
ther to  publish  his  book  or  not,  ending : — "If  it  be  for  Thy  glory, 
I  beseech  Thee  to  give  me  some  sign  from  heaven ;  if  not,  I  shall 
suppress  it.  , 

"  I  had  no  sooner  spoken  these  words,  but  a  loud,  though  yet 
gentle,  noise  came  from  the  heavens  (for  it  was  like  nothing  on 
earth),  which  did  so  comfort  and  cheer  me,  that  I  took  my  petition 
as  granted,  and  that  I  had  the  sign  I  demanded,  whereupon  also 
I  resolved  to  print  my  book:  this  (how  strange  soever  it  may 
seem)  I  protest  before  the  eternal  God  is  true,  neither  am  I  in 
any  way  superstitiously  deceived  herein,  since  I  did  not  only  clearly 
hear  the  noise,  but  in  the  serenest  sky  I  ever  saw,  being  without 
a  cloud,  did  to  my  thinking  see  the  place  from  whence  it  came." 
Lord  Herbert  was  brother  of  George  Herbert,  but  was  a  man  of 
conceited,  self-willed  temper. 


130     Christian  Truth  hoth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

nurtured,  and  to  which  they  owed  their  strength ; 
who  have,  for  a  time,  roused  and  warmed  the  society 
in  which  they  lived  with  a  generous  passion  for 
ideals,  but  have  been  unable  to  build  up  a  working 
moral  system,  not  to  speak  of  a  religioD,  without  the 
foundations  of  belief  in  objective  fact  which  they 
disdained. 

Or,  lastly,  (and  God  has  cheered  us,  no  doubt, 
with  some  instances  of  this  kind  even  in  our  own 
experience),  many  a  man  having  tried  these  systems 
and  discovered  their  inevitable  failure,  after  having 
suffered  and  struggled,  at  last  escapes  all  snares, 
and  submits  to  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel.  In- 
stances of  this  are  familiar  to  readers  of  early  Church 
history,  to  some  extent  in  the  author  of  the  Clemen- 
tines, and  more  strikingly  still  in  Justin  Martyr. 
We  all  know  how  the  latter  went  through  every 
form  of  belief  that  heathen  philosophy  could  offer, 
unable  to  find  rest  and  certainty  in  any.  His  long- 
ing was  never  stilled,  till  one  day  he  met  an  old  man 
upon  the  sea-shore,  who  told  him  of  the  prophets,  the 
truth  of  their  predictions,  the  wonders  they  wrought, 
and  their  testimony  to  God  and  Christ.  "Imme- 
diately," he  writes-*^,  "a  fire  was  kindled  in  my 
soul,  and  a  love  possessed  me  for  the  prophets  and 
those  men  who  are  the  friends  of  Christ :  and  re- 
volving with  myself  what  he  had  told  me,  I  con- 
cluded that  this  alone  was  a  safe  and  serviceable 
philosophy."  Happy  are  they  who  are  enabled  thus 
to  accept  as  reasonable  that  sweet  and  gentle  autho- 
rity of  the  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man,  which  is 

2«  Dialogue  with  Tryplio,  ch.  8,  p.  225  B. 


IV.]  Freedom  in  the  Truth.  131 

harmonious  in  all  its  parts,  wbicli  lias  nothing  lurid 
or  artificial  in  its  light,  nothing  strained  or  one-sided 
in  its-  burden,  but  is  the  peace  and  rest  for  every 
believing  soul. 

"  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free "  (John  viii.  32).  The  authority  of 
Christ  (imperious  as  it  is  in  its  demands)  is,  as  I 
have  said,  no  tyranny,  but  it  is  a  gift  of  power  to 
our  souls,  enabling  them  to  work  with  freedom.  It 
is  a  burden  which,  unlike  other  burdens,  gives  rest, 
a  supernatural  source  of  strength,  which  when  once 
thoroughly  accepted,  can  only  be  lost  by  our  own 
wilfulness.  Surely  this  power  is  a  characteristic  of 
ideal  truth,  which  none  other  than  the  religion  of 
Christ  can  shew  ^^. 

2.  The  characteristic  of  authority  which  we  have 
just  been  discussing  is  the  natural  complement  of 
the  quality  of  comprehensiveness.  The  quality  of 
mystery,  of  which  we  spoke  in  the  former  part  of  this 
Lecture,  has  as  its  practical  correlative  definiteness 
and  intelligihilUrj ^  of  which  we  must  now  proceed 
to  speak. 

This  attribute  of  truth  is  clearly  connected  with 
the  foregoing,  and  flows  from  it.  For  if 'God  deigns 
to  speak  to  men  with  authority,  so  as  to  relieve  their 
souls  from  uncertainty  in  the  discovery  of  truth,  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  He  will  also  speak  in 
a  manner  that  they  can  understand.  While  we  as- 
sert that  the  truths  of  revelation,  whether  spiritual 
or  moral,  are  mysteries  which  men  were  incapable 
of  finding  out  for  themselves,  we  assert  also  that, 
"  Cp.  Mozley,  Miracles,  Lect.  VII.  pp.  143  foil, 

k2 


132    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

when  made  known,  they  have  innumerable  points 
of  contact  with  human  life  and  reason,  and  are  con- 
sonant with  all  the  facts  of  our  experience  ^^ 

Compare,  for  instance,  and  it  is  the  supreme  in- 
stance, the  Christian  creed  as  comprised  in  the  for- 
mula, "I  baptize  thee  in  the  Name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  with  the 
creeds  of  Pantheism  and  of  Islam.  "There  is  one 
only  being  without  a  second,"  or,  "  No  substance 
can  be  supposed  or  conceived  besides  God-y  says 
the  Pantheist.  He  wraps  you  in  a  cloud  of  mys- 
tery. What  natural  knowledge  can  we  have  of  an 
universal  substance  ?  For  all  practical  purposes,  the 
Pantheist  might  as  well  bid  you  step  from  a  balloon 
upon  the  vapours  which  surround  you,  as  be  baptized 
into  this  faith.  The  disciple  of  Islam,  again,  bids 
you  accept  the  utterance,  "  There  is  but  one  God, 
and  Mahomet  is  His  prophet ;"  and  for  any  response 
that  the  latter  part  of  this  utterance  rouses  in  your 
soul,  he  might  as  well  pierce  you  with  the  sword 
with  which  he  enforces  his  argument. 

The  words  which  he  uses  are  indeed  intelligible 
enough,  but  they  do  not  come  home  to  the  natural 
reason.  What  do  we  know  of  Mahomet  except  from 
books?     But  the  Christian  creed   finds   natural  ac- 

^  Cp.  Dr.  S.  Clarke,  1.  c.  prop.  ix.  p.  319.  He  enumerates,  among 
the  necessary  marks  or  proofs  of  a  religion  coming  from  God,  "that 
the  Doctrines  it  teaches  be  all  such  ;  as  though  not  indeed  discover- 
able by  the  bare  Light  of  Nature,  yet  when  discovered  by  Eevela- 
tion,  may  be  consistent  with  and  agreeable  to  sound  and  unpre- 
judiced Eeason.  For  otherwise  no  Evidence  whatsoever  can  prove 
that  any  Doctrine  is  true." 

2^  Spinoza,  Ethics,  parti,  prop.  14,  vol.  i.  p.  197  (Lipsia},  1843). 


lY.]   Doctrine  of  the  Trinit/j  naturalhj  Intelligible.   133 

ceptance  in  the  intelligence  of  the  meanest.  The 
merest  child  knows  what  it  is  to  have  or  to  want 
a  father,  and  to  feel  as  a  son,  and  to  know  itself  as 
a  being  or  spirit  distinct  from  other  spirits.  Human 
nature  supplies  the  elements  of  the  notion  of  the 
Trinity.  "Without  requiring  any  knowledge  of  his- 
tory, without  any  metaphysical  conceptions  of  the 
nature  of  being  or  substance,  without  travelling  be- 
yond the  simplest  relations  of  life,  we  can  teach  an 
infant  that  God  is  at  once  our  Father,  our  Brother, 
our  Better-self,  our  Creator,  Eedeemer,  and  Sanctifier. 

As  soon  as  any  thoughts  at  all  can  enter  the  mind, 
and  concurrently  and  sympathetically  with  those  that 
first  enter,  this  supreme  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  which 
has  sometimes  been  censured  as  a  metaphysical  ab- 
surdity, can  be  imparted  to  the  youngest  and  the 
feeblest,  and  yet  it  is  a  mystery  which  archangels  can- 
not fathom.  The  simplicity  of  other  creeds,  such  as 
it  is,  is  due  to  their  intangibility  or  their  shallowness. 
It  is  the  prerogative  of  the  Christian  creed  to  incul- 
cate such  ideas  as  can  be  taught  wherever  there  are 
the  rudiments  of  human  instincts,  wherever  the  ele- 
ments of  reverence,  love,  and  desire  for  holiness  are 
found ;  while  yet  they  afford  food  for  lifelong  and 
progressive  meditation  to  the  saint  and  the  scholar. 
Its  truth  is  apprehended  by  the  Melanesian  or  Swa- 
hili  boy,  as  really  as  by  Origen  or  Aquinas.  It  is 
plain  to  both ;  it  can  never  cease  to  be  an  eternal 
mystery  to  either, 

3.  Lastly  in  this  series  of  attributes  comes  that 
of  permanence,  God  is  eternal,  but  the  human  race 
is  like  a  flowing  stream,  no  one  drop  of  which  is  ever 


134    Christian  Truth  both  Ideat  and  Practical.     [Lect. 

exactly  the  same  as  another.  A  revelation  of  truth 
for  man  must  somehow  counteract  this  flux  of  human 
life,  which  tends  to  render  all  his  ideas  unstable  and 
unbalanced.  Truth,  while  it  accompanies  him  in 
his  changes  and  his  progress,  and  offers  an  inex- 
haustible supply  of  Divine  riches,  must  also  establish 
itself  permanently  in  history.  There  must  be  some- 
thing monumental,  something  outwardly  impressive 
in  its  form,  if  it  is  to  arrest  the  attention  of  all  men, 
and  to  be  sustained  in  their  midst.  We  cannot,  in- 
deed, determine  a  priori  how  this  sustenance  of  truth 
must  be  secured :  but  we  can  readily  see  that  other 
religions  than  the  Christian  have  flexibility  without 
permanence,  or  stability  without  adaptation  to  chang- 
ing needs ;  while  it  alone  has  both. 

If  we  take  the  case  of  religion  in  India  (which  is 
of  so  much  interest  to  many  here),  we  shall  find  an 
unbounded  flexibility,  joined  to  an  almost  entire  ab- 
sence of  historic  fact.  Childish  myths,  gross  symbols, 
vulgar  charms,  tedious  and  effete  rituals,  absurd 
claims  of  a  sacerdotal  caste,  dispute  the  ground  with 
an  exalted  and  vague  philosophy  and  a  highly - 
strained  idealism.  There  is  something  to  suit  every 
sort  of  character.  Yet  things  highest  and  lowest, 
virtue  and  vice,  self-discipline  and  self-indulgence, 
are  all  confused  together  under  the  common  name 
of  religion.  The  grasp  of  truth  and  of  fact,  as  dis- 
tinct from  falsehood  and  fiction,  is  thus  very  seriously 
weakened,  since  everything  may  have  its  place  in  the 
world  of  ideas.  There  is  no  criterion  by  which  to 
distinguish  a  true  religious  instinct  from  the  corrupt 
motions  of  the  human  heart.     Even  secular  history, 


IV.]      Opposite  Defects  of  Hinduism  and  Islam.      135 

including  biography,  has  no  existence  in  India  be- 
fore the.  Mahometan  invasions,  except  to  some  extent 
in  connection  with  Buddhism,  or  as  it  may  be  gleaned 
from  the  accounts  of  foreisjn  visitors.  India  itself  has 
no  native  annals.  Yet  it  is  clear  that  there  are  few 
countries  in  which  thought  has  been  more  active,  or 
the  minds  of  men  more  alive  to  religious  impressions. 
But  speculation  has  unfortunately  been  dominated 
by  the  false  idea  that  nature  is  everything,  and  the 
individual  man  nothing ;  that  the  present  life  is  only 
a  vague  episode  in  an  endless  series  of  changes ;  that 
God  and  Providence  are  only  names  for  the  imper- 
sonal processes  of  being. 

Hence  India  has  sects  and  monasteries  of  ascetics, 
but  no  Church ;  it  has  sacraments  and  symbols,  but 
no  historical  festivals.  It  has  a  priestly  caste,  but 
no  High  Priestly  Eedeemer,  no  apostolic  succession, 
or  popular  confirmation  of  its  ministers.  It  has  atone- 
ments, but  no  Mediator ;  it  has  prophets,  but  no 
Holy  Spirit ;  it  has,  in  fact,  a  religion  of  nature,  but 
no  worship  of  the  living  God  and  Father  of  men. 

It  would  be  easy  to  shew,  on  the  other  hand,  how 
the  Chinese  State  religion,  with  its  intensely  his- 
torical character,  is  almost  entirely  wanting  in  the 
ideal  elements  which  should  fit  it  to  go  along  with 
the  growing  needs  of  the  people.  We  have  seen 
already  how  this  want  has  thrown  the  populace  into 
the  arms  of  Taoists  and  Buddhists.  Similarly,  in 
Islam,  you  have  a  striking  contrast  to  the  flexibility 
of  Hindu  Pantheism.  Here  you  have  history  from 
the  Hegira  to  the  present  day,  the  annals  of  con- 
quest,  the   self-assertion   of  conquerors,    a   Prophet 


136    Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  a^id  Practical.    [Lect. 

claiming  a  direct  commission  from  God,  whose  life 
is  as  well-known  as  that  of  Augustus  or  Julian,  a 
Law  everywhere  received  and  read,  an  established 
Church,  a  list  of  saints  and  confessors,  memorial 
festivals,  and  many  other  elements  of  permanence. 
But  the  result  is  a  fatal  stiffness  and  inflexibility. 
There  is  no  proper  progress,  no  growth  in  spiritual 
knowledge,  no  belief  in  grace,  hardly  any  sacramental 
or  sacrificial  system.  Hence  comes  the  absence  of  a 
true  development  of  religious  life  within  the  bounds 
of  Islam  itself,  and  a  spirit  of  unyielding  pride,  which 
makes  conversion  to  a  higher  religion  little  short  of 
a  miracle,  wherever  Mahometans  are,  or  have  long 
been,  the  dominant  race. 

It  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  union  of  historical  reality, 
and  those  conditions  of  permanence,  to  which  re- 
ference has  been  made,  with  the  fullest  spiritual 
progressiveness,  that  is  the  special  privilege  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  And  by  the  "Church"  I  mean 
(of  course)  not  only  that  which  has  existed  since  the 
Incarnation,  but  that  which  in  idea  and  in  fact  has 
been  the  place  of  the  covenant,  or  meeting- ground 
of  God  with  men,  since  the  promise  that  the  seed  of 
the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  Its 
distinctive  character  throughout  has  been  the  com- 
bination of  profoundest  symbolism  with  plainest  fact. 
As  far  as  the  history  of  this  Church  is  contained  in 
the  Bible,  from  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the 
last  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  there  is  everywhere 
a  correspondence  of  outward  things,  visible  and  tan- 
gible, with  the  mystery  by  them  signified. 

A  continuous  thread  of  historic  fact  r^ins  through 


IV.]    Union  of  Stjmhol  and  Fact  in  Bible  Historjj.    137 

the  whole.  It  may,  indeed,  possibly  be  the  case  that 
the  beginnings  of  things  are,  by  some  law  of  God's 
ordinance,  almost  as  obscure  to  us  as  their  endings, 
and  that  the  representations  of  the  Fall  and  of  the 
early  history  of  man,  up  to  the  time  of  Abraham, 
with  whom  detailed  history  begins,  are  more  like 
to  the  descriptions  of  the  Apocalypse  and  other  pro- 
phecies of  the  judgment,  than  they  are  to  exact  pho- 
tographs or  annals  of  what  we  call  historic  times. 
But  making  whatever  allowance  may  fairly  be  made 
for  differences  of  method  in  the  Biblical  narrative, 
it  is  clear  that  what  is  related  in  the  first  part  of 
Genesis  is  not,  like  the  early  history  of  other  reli- 
gious books,  a  confused  medley  of  myths  about  the 
sun  and  the  dawn  and  the  constellations  and  the 
other  forces  and  phenomena  of  nature,  mixed  up 
with  grotesque  observations  of  human  life.  No  doubt 
Genesis  contains  a  record  of  some  of  the  facts  which, 
in  the  memory  of  other  nations,  have  been  allied 
to  natural  phenomena ;  thus  the  first  murder  is  con- 
nected by  many  mythologies  with  the  constellation 
of  the  Twins  ^^  But  this  is  not  so  in  Genesis, 
except  in  the  opinion  of  some  who  may  almost  be 
called  mythological  fanatics  ^^     Here   we   have   no- 

'"  M.  Fr.  Lenormant  has  made  a  very  valuable  collection  of  this 
kind  of  material  in  his  recent  book,  Les  Origines  de  VHistoire 
d'apres  la  Bilk.  (Paris,  1880.)  It  is  by  no  means  a  complete 
book,  but  is  interesting  and  valuable  as  the  attempt  of  a  be- 
liever to  shew  that  perfect  scientific  freedom  is  compatible  with 
Christian  faith. 

^^  Lenormant,  on  the  whole,  takes  the  view  in  the  text,  making 
some  exceptions  in  detail,  e.g.  he  agrees  with  the  mythologists  in 
seeing  the  day  and  night  in  the  names  of  Lamech's  wives,  Adah 


138    Christian  Truth  hotJi  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

thing  but  the  mere  facts  of  human  life  observed  as 
working  under  the  simplest  conditions,  and  so  ex- 
hibiting a  picture  which  is  also  a  prophecy  of  the 
whole  course  of  man's  after  existence.  The  elements 
of  all  sin  are  in  the  Fall :  the  first  murder  gives  the 
secret  of  Christ's  rejection  for  envy ;  the  elements  of 
all  history  are  in  the  parallel  between  the  city  of  God 
and  the  city  of  this  world  in  the  times  of  Seth  and 
Cain ;  the  final  judgment  of  all  men  is  foreshadowed 
by  the  Flood ;  the  final  triumph  of  the  Church  is 
prefigured  by  the  ark  riding  upon  the  waves,  and 
settling  on  Ararat.  It  is  difiicult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
determine  how  far  the  facts  here  recorded  happened 
literally  as  they  are  described;  for  my  own  part,  I 
venture  to  hold  that  the  literal  acceptance  of  them 
is  nearer  the  truth  than  any  other  interpretation 
as  yet  propounded.  But  what  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, is  to  understand  that  facts  of  human  life, 
not  ideas  of  natural  phenomena,  are  represented  by 
these  narratives,  whatever  varieties  of  method  may 
at  length  be  discovered  in  them  by  a  profounder  and 
more  learned  exegesis. 

But  if  this  is  the  case  in  the  first  chapters  of 
Genesis,  much  more  clearly  is  it  so  in  the  narratives 
that  follow.  The  patriarchs  are  as  real  men  to  us  as 
those  who  lived  yesterday;  Abraham,  Moses,  David, 
are  indeed  in  some  ways  much  more  living  men  to 

(beauty)  and  Zillah  (shadow).  {Origines  de  VHistoire,  p.  183.) 
Is  it  not  much  more  probable  that  the  first  polygamist  is  described 
as  attracted  by  contrasted  types  of  female  loTeliness  ?  Lenormant 
agrees  that  "  sauf  ces  appellations  cllcs  n'ont  plus  absolument 
rien  d'un  semblable  caractere  (i.e.  caractcre  mythiquc)  dans  le 
livre  sacre." 


IV.]         Witness  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Ignatius.          139 

most  of  us  than  Pericles  or  Cicero.  The  facts  of 
their. lives  fit  into  the  facts  of  ours  as  closely  as 
two  portions  of  a  broken  stick,  notwithstanding  all 
the  social  differences  of  the  times  that  lie  between 
us.  In  the  same  way,  the  whole  of  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  religious  system  of  festivals,  rites,  and 
ceremonies,  is  (as  I  shall  shew  more  in  detail  here- 
after) a  linking  together  of  definite  concrete  material 
facts  with  the  most  profound  thoughts.  Lastly 
and  chiefly,  the  reality  of  the  facts  of  the  life  of 
Christ  is  the  true  safeguard  of  the  doctrines  which 
rest  upon  them,  as  all  Christian  teachers,  from  the 
days  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Ignatius,  have  asserted. 
Thus  St.  Paul  insists  on  the  historical  fact  of  Christ's 
resurrection  against  an  incipient  Gnosticism.  "  If 
Christ  be  not  raised ;  your  faith  is  vain,  ye  are  yet 
in  your  sins  ^^."  And  St.  Ignatius,  in  a  later  stage 
of  the  same  conflict,  writes  to  the  Smyrneans^^,  in 
words  which  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  asserting 
the  literal  truth  of  the  passion  and  resurrection  : — 

"All  these  things  He  suffered  for  our  sakes,  that  we 
might  be  saved.  And  He  suffered  truly,  as  He  also  truly 
raised  Himself,  not  as  some  faithless  men.  say,  that  He 
suffered  only  in  seeming,  themselves  being  but  a  seeming. 
.  .  .  For  I  know  and  believe  His  existence  in  flesh  even 
after  His  resurrection.  And  when  He  came  to  Peter,  and 
those  with  him.  He  said  '  Take,  handle  Me,  and  see  that 
I  am  not  a  spirit  without  a  body  ;'  and  immediately  they 
touched  Him  and  believed,  being  united  both  to  His  flesh 
and  to  His  Spirit.  Wherefore  also  they  despised  death,  and 
were  found  superior  to  death.  And  after  His  resurrection 
He  ate  with  them  and  drank  with  them  as  fleshlj',  though 
being  spiritually  made  one  with  the  Father." 

^^  1  Cor.  XV.  17.  ^^  Ad  Smyrnaeos,  ch,  2 — 4. 


140     Christian  Truth  loth  Ideal  and  Practical.    [Lect. 

"  And  these  things  I  warn  you  brethren,  knowing  indeed 
that  j"ou  too  hold  as  I  do.  But  I  forearm  you  against  those 
wild  beasts  in  human  form,  whom  you  must  not  only  not 
receive,  but  if  possible  not  even  meet,  but  only  pray  for 
them,  if  it  may  be  that  they  will  repent,  which  is  hard. 
But  over  this  Jesus  Christ  has  power,  who  is  our  true  Life. 
But  if  these  things  were  done  by  our  Lord  in  seeming,  then 
these  bonds  of  mine  are  also  seeming.  And  why  have  I 
given  myself  up  to  death,  to  fire,  to  sword,  to  wild  beasts  ? 
But  near  the  sword,  near  to  God;  with  the  wild  beasts 
about  me,  God  about  me.  Onlj^  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
I  will  bear  everything  that  I  may  suffer  with  Him,  while 
He  gives  me  strength  who  was  made  perfect  Man." 

Such  Gnosticism  as  this,  which  the  earliest  age 
had  to  combat,  is  not  extinct,  alas !  among  us,  nor 
can  we  afford  to  lay  aside  St.  Ignatius'  warning  as 
out  of  date.  "We  still  hear  the  assertion  paraded  as 
the  secret  of  the  universe,  that  thoughts  are  the  only 
realities,  and  things  are  unreal.  Yet  we  may  ask  the 
simple  question  of  such  would-be  philosophers,  "  How 
can  those  who  talk  like  this  believe  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul?"  for  the  soul,  though  it  be  not 
material,  is  a  thing  quite  as  much  as  it  is  a  thought. 
And  so  we  know  where  we  should  be  led  by  the 
supposed  philosophy  of  religion,  which  talks  of  God's 
teaching  only  by  means  of  a  series  of  "illusions"''*," 

^  Dr.  Abbott,  in  his  book,  TJiroiigh  Nature  to  Christ.  The  germ 
of  this  book  appears  (if  I  mistake  not)  in  a  sermon  of  the  late 
F.  W.  Eobertson's,  Third  Series,  No.  6,  entitled  The  lUusiveness 
of  Life  (London,  1878,  pp.  77 — 89).  But  Mr.  Robertson's  view 
of  the  subject  seems  to  me  much  soimder  than  Dr.  Abbott's, 
e.g.  in  his  remarks  on  what  the  Israelites  found  in  Canaan,  bottom 
of  p.  86,  compared  with  Dr.  Abbott,  p.  77.  The  latter  seems  to 
overlook  the  real  satisfaction  which  God  gave  to  the  desires  of 
His  people,  partial  as  it  no  doubt  was,  and  very  far  from  final. 


i 


lY.]  Modern  Gnosticism.  141 

and  of  a  "spiritual,"  as  distinct  from  a  "material," 
incarnation  ^^  of  Christ. 

Such  a  philosophy  as  this  may  have  its  vogue  for 
a  season,  but  it  will  soon  pass  to  the  same  gulf  as  the 
speculations  of  Valentinus  and  Basilides.  The  faith 
which  the  Apostles  preached,  for  which  the  mar- 
tyrs suffered,  and  in  which  we  bury  our  dead,  is 
a  faith  resting  on  historical  facts ;  and  it  alone  will 
continue,  it  alone  will  move  the  world.  The  Psalmist's 
words  can  never  be  obsolete,  and  Christians  of  every 
age  will  sing,  as  their  fathers  have  sung  before 
them : — 

"Thy  testimonies  are   wonderful:   therefore  doth  my  soul 
keep  them. 
The  entrance  of  Thy  word  giveth  light :  it  giveth  under- 
standing unto  the  simple." 


The  Bible  reconciles  the  two,  when  it  tells  us  that  the  Lord  gave 
the  people  rest  under  Joshua  (Joshua  i.  13,  14;  xxi.  44;  xxii.  4; 
xxiii.  1),  and  that  Joshua  did  not  give  them  rest  (Heb.  iv.  8). 
Dr.  Abbott  overlooks  also  the  reason  why  God  did  not  fulfil 
many  of  His  promises,  viz.,  the  rebellion  and  unfaithfulness  of 
His  people. 

^  Throxigl  Nature  to  Christ,  pp.  459,  460. 

Additional  note  to  page  121,  note  14. 

In  Christian  Evidence  Lectures,  Series  2,  pp.  291 — 340  (London, 
1879),  there  is  an  interesting  Lecture  by  Sir  Bartle  Prere  on 
Christianity  suited  to  all  Forms  of  Civilization,  which  may  be  re- 
ferred to  in  illustration  of  the  text. 

Instances  of  the  power  of  the  Bible  to  effect  conversion  could 
very  readily  be  multiplied.  The  case  of  the  profligate  John  "VVil- 
mot.  Earl  of  Rochester  (ob.  1680),  has  often  been  quoted.  He  said 
to  Burnet  that  as  he  heard  the  53rd  chapter  of  Isaiah  read  "  he 
felt  an  inward  force  upon  him,  which  did  so  enlighten  his  mind 
and  convince  him,  that  he  could  resist  it  no  longer :  For  the  words 


142       Christian  Truth  both  Ideal  and  Practical. 

had  an  authority  which  did  shoot  like  Eays  or  Beams  in  his  Mind ; 
so  that  he  was  not  only  convinced  hy  the  Reasonings  he  had  about 
it,  which  satisfied  his  understanding,  but  by  a  power  which  did 
so  effectually  constrain  him,  that  he  did  ever  after  as  firmly  believe 
in  his  Saviour,  as  if  he  had  seen  Him  in  the  Clouds."  {Some  Passages 
of  the  Life  and  Death  of  John,  Earl  of  Rochester,  by  Gilbert  Burnet, 
pp.  141,  142,  5th  edition,  London,  1700). 

.  The  following  is  from  Miss  Bird's  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan, 
vol.  ii.  p.  301,  (London,  1880).  Some  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  other  Christian  books,  found  their  way,  almost  accidentally, 
into  the  hands  of  a  prisoner  at  Otsu,  a  scholar,  incarcerated  for 
manslaughter.  "A  few  months  ago,  a  fire  broke  out,  and  100 
incarcerated  persons,  instead  of  trying  to  escape,  helped  to  put  out 
the  flames,  and  to  a  man  remained  to  undergo  the  rest  of  their 
sentences."  It  turned  out  that  the  possessor  of  the  books  had 
used  them  to  teach  his  fellow-captives,  "and  Christian  principles, 
combined  with  his  personal  influence,  restrained  them  from  de- 
frauding justice.  The  scholar  was  afterwards  pardoned,  but  re- 
mained in  Otsu  to  teach  more  of  the  'new  way'  to  the  prisoners." 

Additional  note  to  page  125,  note  20. 

The  comparison  between  Christianity  and  Islam  in  respect  to 
miracles,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  latter,  seems  to  me  very 
forcible.  It  has  been  argued,  however  (by  Professor  Tyndall), 
that  Mahometanism  has  spread  without  miracles,  and  therefore 
Christianity  may  have  done  the  same.  But  the  cases  are  not 
parallel.  If  Christianity  had  appealed  to  the  sword,  and  had 
enforced  a  mere  outward  obedience  to  a  law,  and  had  made  the 
concessions  to  human  selfishness  that  Islam  has  done,  in  respect 
e.g.  to  polygamy,  the  argument  might  be,  to  some  extent,  admis- 
sible. But  Christian  morality  triumphing  over  the  flesh,  and  yet 
nurturing  a  sense  of  perfect  freedom,  could  not  have  succeeded 
(humanly  speaking)  without  miraculous  assistance.  Cp.  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Shaw's  argument.  Christian  Evidence  Lectures,  Series  2, 
pp.  427  foil. 

Further,  at  least  three  stupendous  miracles,  the  Incarnation, 
Resurrection,  and  Ascension,  are  essential  parts  of  Christianity, 
regarded  merely  as  a  moral  system.  Those  who  do  not  believe 
in  those  lesser  arjfjLeLa  of  Christ,  which  are  commonly  called  "mira- 
cles," generally  end  by  disbelief  in  the  truth  of  these  essentials. 


i 


14^ 


LECTURE   V. 


ACTS   xvii.  22,  23. 
Then  Paul  stood  in  the  midst  of  3Iars'  hill,  and  said, 
"  Ye  men  of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too 
superstitious.     For  as  I  passed  hy,  and  beheld  your  devotions, 
I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  to   the  unknown 

GOD." 

THE  NATUEAL  SENSE  OF  SEPAEATION  FEOM  GOD,  AND  OP 
THE  NEED  OF  ATONEMENT. 

The  altar  to  the  unknown  God  a  true  type  of  heathen  worship. 

1.  The  separation  from  God  considered  as  connected  with  Sin  and 
Death :  Myths  of  a  golden  age,  and  contrast  with  later  times. — 
Departure  of  the  gods. — Popular  sense  of  the  misery  of  man. — 
Sense  of  sin,  especially  in  classical  writers. — Sin  a  breaking  away 
from  God,  and  leading  to  death, — Sense  of  the  impurity  of  death, 
and  of  murder. 

2.  Attempts  at  atonement,  especially  confession  of  sin  and  sacrifice. — 
Confessioti  implied  in  approach  to  a  priest. — In  Assyria,  Persia, 
Mexico. — Extraordinary  mixture  of  ideas  in  the  latter. — Sacri- 
fice for  sin:    ideas  implied  in  it,  (1)  the  most  precious  thing, 

(2)  a  substitution  for  ourselves. — Bloody  sacrifice,  why  chosen. 
— Willingness  to  die,  &c. — Climax  in  human  sacrifice :  union  of 
best  and  worst  in  it. — Reaction  against  it  almost  universal. — 
Mystical  theories  of  sacrifice,  miraculous  power  especially  of  auste- 
rities, and  attribution  of  it  to  God. — In  India  and  Odin's  Rune- 
Song. — Mexican  sacrifices. — Osiris,  Adonis,  &c. —  Not  merely 
pantheistic,  but  allied  to  a  first  principle  of  Christian  theology. 

3.  Failure  of  these  atte7npts :  acknowledged  by  the  best  minds  of 
antiquity. — Difficulty  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin  insoluble  to  the 
natural  conscience. 

rpHE  sermon  which  St.  Paul  preached  on  this  text 

had,  we  know,  at  first  very  little  success.     Yet 

few   utterances   have  been   more  powerful  or  more 


144    The  7iatural  sense  of  Separation  fi'om  God.  [Lect. 

blessed  in  the  eventual  issue.  Let  this  thought  com- 
fort us  defenders  of  the  faith  in  this  age,  as  it  and 
others  like  it  has  comforted  our  fathers  in  the  past. 

The  secret  of  St.  Paul's  final  success  lies  in  this, 
that  under  the  common  phenomena  of  heathen  life  he 
read  the  true  inner  feeling.  He  shewed  to  men  the 
real  character  of  their  worship.  ''  I  perceive  (he  said 
to  the  Athenians)  that  in  all  things  ye  are  too  super- 
stitious {beLo-LbaLfjLoveaTepovs)^  Many  critics  are  in- 
deed inclined  to  see  a  mistranslation  of  our  Author- 
ized Version  here  \  as  if  he  rather  praised  than  blamed 
them  for  their  religious  temper.  It  may  possibly  be 
so :  but  I  venture  on  the  whole  to  think  that  our 
translators  were  right,  and  that  he  is  blaming  the 
Athenians  for  superstition  and  ignorance,  when  they 
might  really,  if  they  had  followed  their  better  guides 
and  truer  lights,  have  had  confidence  and  knowledge. 
St.  Paul,  we  know,  thought  highly  of  the  natural 
evidences  of  religion  open  to  men  as  men^.  He 
thought  that  the  being  and  nature  of  God  was  clearly 
enough  revealed  to  human  kind,  and  that  creature-wor- 
ship was  inexcusable.  Hence  he  seems  to  censure 
rather  than  praise  the  altar  on  which  he  had  cast  his 
eye  as  he  passed,  it  may  be  from  the  port  where  he 
landed,  or  through  the  Agora,  or  up  the  slope  of  the 
Areopagus.  This  censure,  moreover  (generous  as  it 
essentially  was)  to  a  great  degree  explains  his  tem- 
porary ill  success,  as  its  intrinsic  truthfulness  ac- 
counts for  his  eventual  triumph. 

^  The  new  revision  has   "somewhat   superstitious"  with  "re- 
ligious" as  an  alternative  in  the  margin.    Cp.  p.  177,  note  75. 
2  Rom.  i.  18—21. 


v.]  The  Altar  to  the  Unknown  God.  145 

The  altar  which  he  saw  was  probably  no  very  im- 
portant monument  in  itself.  Kone  exactly  like  it  has 
come  down  to  us,  though  altars  to  "the  unknown 
godsy  and  to  a  being  addressed  as  "  whether  god  or 
goddess  Y'  are  well  known  from  other  sources.  The 
feeling  which  gave  rise  to  the  erection  of  such  an 
altar  is  common  indeed  in  heathenism,  and  is  in- 
volved in  its  whole  conception  of  practical  religion. 
The  heathen  world  feels  itself  estranged  from  God.  It 
knows  that  God  is  angry  with  sin ;  it  feels  itself  pun- 
ished, or  likely  to  be  punished,  by  a  power  which  has 
retired  into  a  mysterious  and  awful  cloud  of  reserve ; 
it  stretches  out  its  arms  into  the  darkness,  vainly 
trying  to  propitiate  the  offended  majesty.  Surely  it 
is  with  perfect  truth  to  nature  that  Isaiah,  in  de- 
scribing the  coming  over  of  the  nations  to  the  Mes- 
sianic kingdom,  represents  them  as  exclaiming,  "Ve- 
rily Thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  Thyself,  0  God  of 
Israel  the  Saviour  ^" 

This  deep  feeling  of  the  heathen  world  is  the  sub- 
ject of  my  lecture  to-day.  It  may  be  conveniently 
considered  under  three  heads  : — 

^  They  are  mentioned  by  Pausanias,  i.  1,  as  at  the  PiraBus,  and 
V.  14,  at  Olympia;  by  Philostratus,  Vita  Apollonii,  vi.  3  {^.  232, 
ed.  Lips.,  1709),  as  at  Athens;  and  by  S.Jerome,  on  Titus  i.  12,  as 
at  Athens. 

Diogenes  Laertius,  in  his  Life  of  Epimenides,  chap.  3,  mentions 
altars  erected  by  his  orders  on  the  Areopagus,  raj  Trpoa-rjKovTi  de^, 
*  to  expiate  a  pestilence.'  Pseudo-Lucian,  FMlopatris,  9  and  29 
{vri  Tov  ayvuxTTov  iv  ' \6rivaii),  probably  refers  to  this  passage  of  the 
Acts,  and  may  be  fairly  said  to  confirm  it. 

■*  Wilmanns  Inscr.  Lat.,  48,  2884,  2885.  Compare  my  Early 
Latin,  p.  410. 

^  Isaiah  xlv.  14,  15. 

L 


146    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

1.  The   separation  from  God   considered   as  con- 
nected with  sin  and  death. 

2.  The  attempts  to  obtain  reconciliation  by  sacrifice, 
and  other  methods  of  purification. 

3.  The  manifest  failure  of  these  methods. 

1.  Heathen  sense  of  Separation  from  God. 
Myths  of  a  golden  age,  long  since  passed  away,  in 
which  gods  and  men  lived  in  closer  union,  and  hap- 
piness and  justice  prevailed  on  earth,  form  the  back- 
ground of  most,  if  not  all,  heathen  religious  systems. 
Such  a  background  is  apparent  in  the  theory  of  a  pri- 
meval revelation,  which,  as  a  competent  authority^ 
has  told  us,  is  found  "both  among  the  lowest  and 
amongst  the  most  highly  civilised  races.  It  is  a  con- 
stant saying  among  African  tribes,  ^that  formerly 
heaven  was  nearer  to  men  than  it  is  now,  that  the 
highest  God,  the  Creator  Himself,  gave  formerly  les- 
sons of  wisdom  to  human  beings ;  but  that  afterwards 
He  withdrew  from  them,  and  dwells  now  far  from 
them  in  heaven'''.'  The  Hindus^  say  the  same,  and 
they  as  well  as  the  Greeks  ^  appeal  to  their  ancestors, 
who  had  lived  in  closer  community  with  the  gods,  as 
their  authority  on  what  they  believe  about  the  gods." 

*  Max  Miiller,  HiUert  Lectures,  p.  170,  2d  ed.  (Lond.,  1878). 

'  "Waitz,  Anthropologie  der  Naturvolker,  ii.  p.  171. 

^  Rig-Veda,  i.  179,  2;  vii.  76,  4.  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  iii. 
p.  245. 

®  Nagelsbach,  Homerische  Theologie,  p.  151.  [Cp.  Plato,  Philebus, 
p.  16.  Socrates  speaks  of  "  a  gift  of  heaven  which,  as  I  conceive, 
the  gods  tossed  among  men  by  the  hands  of  a  new  Prometheus,  and 
therewith  a  blaze  of  light;  and  the  ancients  who  were  our  betters, 
and  nearer  the  gods  than  we,  handed  down  the  tradition  to  us," 
&c.] 


v.]        Primitive  Bevelation  and  a  Golden  Age.        147 

The  description  of  the  golden  age  amongst  the 
Greeks  is  only  a  reflection  of  a  common  belief.  In 
the  first  days,  according  to  these  legends,  God  Him- 
self was  the  shepherd  of  men,  and  ruled  over  them  ^°. 
Life  was  a  happy  time,  free  from  care  and  pain ;  old 
age  did  not  hinder  the  free  exercise  of  the  limbs  in 
games  and  dances ;  the  seasons  were  temperate,  earth 
brought  forth  of  itself  for  man's  delight,  and  what 
work  was  needed  was  a  pleasure  and  not  a  toil.  Death 
was  for  men  a  lying  down  to  sleep,  a  happy  passing 
away,  followed  by  their  glorified  existence  as  benefi- 
cent spirits,  the  watchers  over  right  and  justice  on 
earth  ^^  Other  traits  of  this  picture  are  the  ascription 
of  great  intellectual  power  to  the  men  of  early  ages, 
who  were  able  without  let  or  hindrance  to  turn  their 
minds  in  every  direction,  and  to  see  into  the  inner 
truth  of  things,  and  to  acquire  in  a  lifetime  know- 
ledge that  ten  or  twenty  lives  now  go  to  furnish. 
They  lived  in  perfect  peace  and  harmony  with  one 
another,  and  with  the  wildest  and  fiercest  animals, 
and  sacrifice  and  the  eating  of  animal  food  was 
unknown  ^-. 

Those  who  give  us  these  pictures  contrast  with 

10  Plato,  Politicus,  pp.  271,  272. 

"  Hesiod,  Works  and  Days,  109  foil.  Cp.  Preller,  Oriechische 
Mythologie,  i.  p.  69.  The  phrase  &vtj(tkov  S'  a>s  inrva  SeS^jj/xeVoi  and 
the  lines  that  follow  it,  are  a  striking  illustration  of  the  meaning  of 
the  promise  to  Abraham,  "thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers  in  peace," 
and  other  things  of  the  kind  in  the  Old  Testament,  where  we  are 
to  see  a  clear  belief  in  a  future  life. 

1^  Empedocles  ap.  Mullach,  Fraff.  Phihsophorum  Gracorum,  i. 
p.  13.  Cp.  Dicffiarchus  in  Porphyrins,  de  Ahstinentia,  iv.  2,  ed. 
Nauck,  (Lips.,  1860).  The  picture  of  happy  life  under  Quetzalcoatl 
among  the  Toltecs  is  very  similar;  Bancroft,  iii.  pp.  250  foil. 

l2 


148    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

them  the  miserable  state  in  which  themselves  are 
living.  The  well-known  lines  of  Hesiod  upon  the 
iron  age  remind  ns  strongly  of  the  prophecies  of  the 
latter  days  in  the  New  Testament.  The  sense  of  sepa- 
ration from  God,  and  consequent  alienation  between 
man  and  man,  is  strong  upon  him.  The  gods  have  all 
but  left  the  earth,  and  last  of  all  the  twins  Eeverence 
and  Justice,  covering  their  faces  with  their  robes,  will 
quit  our  dark  abodes  for  a  better  society,  and  leave 
us  to  a  misery  with  which  we  cannot  cope  ^^. 

This  belief  in  a  total  severance  of  God  and  man  is 
remarkable  as  occurring  in  Greek  mythology,  where 
the  sense  of  sin  is  on  the  whole  superficial.  But  with 
all  the  lightness  of  temperament  which  this  great 
people  exhibit^'*,  there  is  in  their  best  writers  an 
under-current  of  melancholy,  bearing  witness  that  man 
is  in  a  state  which  is  very  different  indeed  from  his 
ideal,  and  has  lost  his  happiness. 

Side  by  side  with  the  assertion  that  nothing  is 
more  wonderful  than  man,  we  find  the  counter  state- 
ment, that  nothing  is  more  miserable.  Even  joyous, 
straightforward  Homer  makes  Zeus  exclaim — 

"  Than  man  more  wretched  nought,  I  ween,  is  found 
Of  all  that  breathes  the  air  and  walks  the  ground  '^ : " 

and  the  astonishing  sentiment  that  "  not  to  be  born 
is  the  best  fate  of  all,  but  next  best  is  to  die  as  soon 

"  Hesiod,  1.  c.  172—199.  Cp.  Theognis,  1135—1150.  who  tells 
us  that  Hope  is  the  only  god  remaining  :  see  below,  p.  184,  note  4 ; 
Ovid,  Met.,  i.  150;  Juv.  vi.  19. 

^*  This  lightness  is  well  shewn  by  Mr.  Percy  Gardner,  in  an 
article  on  the  Greek  mind  in  the  presence  of  death,  Contemp.  Rev., 
Dec,  1877,  vol.  xxxi.  p.  144  foil. 

>^  Horn.,  II.,  xvii.  446. 


v.]  Popular  sense  of  Sorrow  and  Sin.  149 

as  may  be,"  is  almost  a  commonplace  of  Greek  poetry, 
and  was  considered  as  an  oracular  utterance  ^'^.  A 
similar  note  of  sadness  runs,  it  may  be  noticed, 
through  much  of  popular  music,  pitched  in  its  weird 
minor  keys,  and  through  the  ballad  literature  of 
many  countries,  with  its  images  of  death  and  terror. 
But  it  is  not  only  poets  who  speak  thus : — 

"  What  is  man  ?"  (asks  the  most  reserved  of  philosophers 
— Aristotle)  "  A  pattern  of  impotency,  a  prey  of  accident, 
a  plaything  of  fortune,  an  image  of  mutability,  a  mark  for 
envy  and  misery  to  aim  at,  and  for  the  rest  phlegm  and 
gall"." 

This  assertion  of  the  universality  of  sorrow  is 
matched  by  hardly  less  striking  language  on  the 
universality  of  sin.  It  would  be  but  a  shallow  sup- 
position that  Christianity  had  invented  the  idea  of 
sin  in  order  to  commend  the  remedy  for  it  offered  by 
our  Saviour.  It  has  indeed  profoundly  deepened  and 
widely  enlarged  the  consciousness  of  sin,  but  the  re- 
cognition of  the  fact  of  human  wrong-doing  is  per- 
fectly independent  of  Christian  teaching  ^^.    To  quote 

^^  "We  learn  that  it  was  considered  an  oracle  from  Cicero,  Tusc, 
i.  48,  115,  and  Plutarch,  Consol.  ad  ApolL,  c.  27.  It  is  found  sub- 
stantially in  the  following  poets,  Bacchylides  ap.  Stob.,  Flor.,  98, 
27;  Theognis,  425 ;  Soph.,  (Ed,  Colon.,  1226;  Eurip.,  Cresphontes, 
frag.  10.  Cp.  Plin.,  iV.  IT.,  vii.  I,  where  the  old  naturalist  waxes 
eloquent  on  the  miseries  of  human  nature,  and  xxviii.  2,  where  he 
treats  suicide  as  the  most  blessed  remedy  discovered  by  mankind. 

^■^  Ap.  Stob.,  Florilegimn,  98,  60 — a  remarkable  chapter. 

^®  Cp.  Liddon,  Eleme7its  of  Religion,  Lect.  iv.  p.  129  foil. ;  Lut- 
hardt,  Saving  Truths  of  Christianity,  Lect.  2,  Moral  Truths,  Lect, 
8,  and  notes ;  P.  A.  0.  Tholuck,  Guido  and  Julius,  ch.  2  (already 
referred  to,  p.  104),  a  valuable  little  book  (first  pub.  in  1823,  in 
reply  to  one  of  De  Wette's),  the  fuller  title  of  which  is  The  Doctrine 
of  Sin  and  the  Pro^ntiator,  or  the  Trtie  Consecration  of  the  Doubter. 
It  may  be  read  in  a  translation  by  J.  E.  Eyland,  (Lond.,  1836). 


150    TJie  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

only  a  few  familiar  instances.  You  remember  the 
speech  of  Diodotus,  as  reported  by  Thucydides  (iii. 
45)— 

"  All  men  both  as  individuals  and  public  bodies  are  prone 
to  sin,  nor  is  there  any  law  that  can  restrain  this  tendency ; 
since  men  have  gone  through  all  forms  of  punishment,  con- 
tinually augmenting  them,  with  the  hope  of  being  less  in- 
jured by  evil-doers.  ...  In  short,  it  is  an  impossibility  and 
a  mark  of  great  simplicity  to  suppose  that  any  one  can  keep 
back  human  nature,  when  it  is  vehemently  set  upon  a  thing, 
either  by  force  of  law  or  any  other  menace." 

And  Crates  puts  epigrammatically  the  presence  of 
corruption  everywhere : — 

"  It  is  impossible  to  find  a  man  without  blemish  ;  but  just 
as  is  the  case  with  the  pomegranate,  every  man  has  in  him 
one  rotten  grain  i"." 

"Let  no  man  think  lightly  of  evil"  (says  Buddha  from 
the  other  side  of  the  world),  "  saying  in  his  heart.  It  will  not 
come  nigh  unto  me.  Even  by  the  falling  of  water-drops 
a  water-pot  is  filled :  the  fool  becomes  full  of  evil,  even  if  he 
gather  it  Httle  by  little  ^\" 

Nor  are  there  wanting  striking  descriptions  of  the 
struggle  between  the  knowledge  of  good  and  the  pas- 
sionate desire  for  evil,  which  is,  as  it  were,  the  central 
fact  of  Christian  psychology,  as  traced  by  the  master- 
hand  of  St.  Paul. 

The  two  horses  of  the  soul  of  Plato's  Phwdrus^^, 
the  ''cords  and  strings  which  pull  us  different  and 
opposite  ways  and  to  opposite  actions,  ....  making 
a  man  superior  or  inferior  to  himself,"  of  which  we 
read  in  hi^  Laws ~^^  the  "two  souls"  of  Xenophon's 

•'  Ap.  Diog.  Laert.,  vit.  philosoph.  vi.  §  89. 

^  Bhammapada,  verse  121 ;  Sacred  Books,  x.  p.  34. 

"  Fhadrus,  p.  253  D.  ^^  Laws,  i.  pp.  644,  645. 


v.]  Sense  of  a  struggle  with  Sin.  151 

Araspes  -^,  which  make  a  man  wish  and  not  wish  the 
same  things  at  the  same  moment,  will  occur  to  many 
of  us.  So  it  is  also  among  the  Eomans.  Even  worldly 
and  sensual  poets  have  written  with  a  deep  sense  of 
this  truth.    Ovid's  lines  have  become  proverbial, — 

"Nitimur  in  vetitum  semper  cupimusque  negata," 
and  the  still  more  often  quoted, — 

"  Video  meliora  proboque  Deteriora  sequor  ^^" 

Cicero,  too,  tells  us  mournfully  of  the  poor  little 
sparks  of  light  which  nature  has  given  us,  and  which 
we  hasten  to  extinguish  by  immoralities  and  false 
notions  ^. 

And  while  this  is  the  judgment  of  the  most  en- 
lightened ancients,  it  coincides  with  the  simple  reflec- 
tions of  the  heathen  of  South  Africa.  The  KafErs 
have  just  the  same  thought  of  a  good  heart  and  a  bad 
heart  in  every  man ;  the  good  heart  having  a  small 
and  gentle  voice,  very  easily  overpowered ;  while  the 
bad  heart,  like  Plato's  dark- coloured  horse,  is  bluster- 
ing and  passionate  ^^. 

Especially  was  this  feeling  of  human  sinfulness 
strong  in  Eome  in  the  latter  half  of  the  first  century 
of  our  era,  when  history  was  written  mpre  as  a  bitter 
record  of  vices  and  crimes  than  as  the  chronicle  of 
glory  and   progress.     Not  only  satirical   poets  like 

^  Xen.,  Cyrop.  vi.  1.  41.  -*  Ovid,  Amores,  iii.  4.  15  ; 

Metam.y  vii.  20,  21.     Cp.  Hor.,  i.  Od.  3,  25  foil. 

^*  Cic,  Tusc.  iii.  1.  2. 

2«  This  I  learn  from  Bp.  Callaway  (March,  18«1),  who  tells  me 
that  ho  was  long  in  discovering  how  to  speak  of  conscience  to  his 
native  hearers,  but  when  he  spoke  of  these  two  hearts  the  heathen 
immediately  understood  him.     See  Appendix  II.  to  this  volume. 


152    Tlie  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

Persius  and  Juvenal,  but  standard  prose  writers  like 
Paterculus,  Seneca,  and  Tacitus,  are  full  of  the 
wickedness  of  the  age.  A  Christian  apologist  with 
great  point  says  of  one  of  these  : — 

"  If  any  one  wishes  to  know  all  that  can  be  said  [against 
heathenism]  let  him  take  up  the  books  of  Seneca,  who  was 
both  the  truest  describer  of  public  morals  and  vices,  and 
their  most  stern  accuser  ^^" 

An  example  of  this  description  may  be  taken  from 
Seneca's  book  on  Anger  ^^ ; — 

"  All  things  are  full  of  crimes  and  vices ;  more  wrongs  are 
committed  than  can  be  righted  by  any  penalties.  Men  vie 
with  one  another  in  a  monstrous  contest  of  wickedness ; 
every  day  the  love  of  sin  grows  greater,  and  shame  grows 
less.  The  respect  for  what  is  good  and  just  is  repudiated, 
and  desire  fastens  eagerly  on  every  fancy.  Nor  are  crimes 
now  done  in  stealth ;  they  brave  our  sight.  And  so  public 
is  wickedness,  such  a  strong  hold  of  all  hearts  has  it  ac- 
quired, that  innocence  is  not  only  rare,  but  has  ceased  to 
exist  ('ut  innocentia  non  rara  sed  nulla  sit').  Shall  I  say 
that  individuals  or  some  few  men  have  broken  through  the 
law  ?  on  every  side,  as  if  at  a  given  signal,  they  have  united 
to  confuse  the  principles  of  good  and  evil." 

It  would  be  easy  to  add  to  these  dark  pictures  of 
human  life,  in  many  of  which  it  is  clear  that  the  un- 
easy conscience  of  the  writer  tries  to  relieve  its  own 
sense  of  guilt  by  painting  all  round  it  as  black  and 
vicious. 

Nor  was  the  better  mind  of  heathenism  unaware 
that  sin  is  so  bitter  because  it  is  a  transgression  of 

""  Lactantius,  Biv.  Inst.  v.  9 :  "  Qui  volent  scire  omnia,  SenecaB 
libros  in  manum  sumant ;  qui  morum  vitiorumque  publicorum  et 
descriptor  verissimus  et  accusator  acerrimus  fuit." 

*^  Be  ira,  ii.  8. 


Y.]  Sin  a  hreaking  away  from  God.  153 

the  law  of  God.  God  (says  Plato,  in  a  famous  pas- 
sage) holds  in  His  hand  the  beginning,  middle,  and 
end  of  all  that  is : — 

"  Justice  always  follows  Him,  and  is  the  punisher  of  those 
who  fall  short  of  the  divine  law.  To  that  law  he  who  would 
be  happy  holds  fast,  and  follows  it  in  all  humility  ^^  and 
order ;  but  he  who  is  lifted  up  with  pride,  or  money,  or 
honour,  or  beauty,  who  has  a  soul  hot  with  folly,  and  youth, 
and  insolence,  and  thinks  that  he  has  no  need  of  a  guide  or 
ruler,  but  is  able  himself  to  be  the  guide  of  others,  he,  I  say, 
is  deserted  of  God,  and  being  thus  deserted,  he  takes  to 
himself  others  who  are  like  himself,  and  dances  about, 
throwing  all  things  into  confusion;  and  many  think  that 
he  is  a  great  man,  but  in  a  short  time  he  pays  the  penalty 
which  justice  cannot  but  approve,  and  is  utterly  destroyed, 
and  his  family  and  city  with  him^^" 

And  he  goes  on  to  argue  that  ''he  who  would.be 
dear  to  God  must  be  like  Him,  and  such  as  He  is  ^°." 

In  a  similar  spirit  the  Stoic  Cleanthes,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Zeno  and  author  of  the  famous  hymn  to 
Zeus,  declares  "  that  every  sin  is  an  impiety,  and  as 
such  displeasing  to  the  gods  ^^" 

2^  ZaM7s,  pp.  715,  716  (Prof.  Jowett's  translation).  The  use  of 
raireivos  in  a  good  sense  in  the  second  sentence  is  remarkable.  Plu- 
tarch has  imitated  it,  de  profectihus  in  virtute,  §  10,  p.  81  E.  Celsus 
quoted  this  passage  of  Plato  as  the  origin  of  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  humility,  Origen  c.  Celstim,  vi.  15.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  similar  thought  elsewhere  in  the  classics.  Lao-tse,  the  Chinese 
Plato,  has,  however,  some  striking  parallels.  See  below,  Lecture 
VI.,  p.  209,  and  the  passages  there  referred  to. 

^°  Cp.  Hep.  ix.  p.  589,  "  Is  not  the  noble  that  which  subjects  the 
beast  to  the  man,  or  rather  to  the  god  in  man ;  and  the  ignoble 
that  which  subjects  the  man  to  the  beast  ?"  Cp.  the  description 
of  the  injustice  of  the  multitude,  Rep.  ii.  p.  365 ;  and  of  desire 
seizing  upon  an  empty  soul,  ib.  viii.  p.  560. 

^^  Cleanthes  in  Stoboeus,  Eclogce  Physiccc  et  EtMcx,  ii.  6,  §  6, 
p.  217,  ed.  Heeren. 


154    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God,  [Lect. 

These  men,  and  others  with  them,  were  thus  on 
the  track  of  the  principle  of  revelation  that  sin  leads 
on  to  death,  and  that  death  is  the  punishment  of  sin. 
This  principle  indeed  lies  deep  in  the  heart  of  man, 
who  turns  instinctively  to  God  as  the  author  of  life, 
and  feels  that  he  was  made  to  hold  communion  with 
Him  ^^.  Eut  men  know  that  they  have  started  away 
from  this  communion,  they  have  broken  the  chain 
that  binds  them  to  heaven,  and  so  they  regard  death 
naturally  as  an  avenger,  not  as  a  friend. 

In  the  golden  age  death  is  a  natural  passage  to 
a  better  life — 

"  They  died  as  men  o'erpowered  by  sleep  lie  down ;" 

but  in  later  ages  he  comes  as  an  executioner^^,  as 
a  punisher  of  irreverence,  following  on  a  state  of 
mutual  warfare  and  distrust,  and  removing  his  vic- 
tims to  a  dark  and  terrible  Hades,  over  which  is  cast 
a  veil  of  impenetrable  gloom. 

This  thought  of  death  as  a  punishment  of  sin  and 
the  mark  of  separation  from  God,  explains  the  con- 
stant popular  feeling  of  the  impurity  of  the  unburied 
corpse.  All  contact  with  it  is  to  be  kept  far  from 
the  worship  of  God,  and  from  His  priests  and  minis- 
ters. You  remember  how  Euripides  has  given  a  fine 
expression  to  this  thought  in  the  Alcestis  and  Hippo- 
hjtus^^.     In  the   first,   Apollo   leaves   the   house    of 

^^  Cp.  Delitzsch,  ChristUche  Apologetih,  pp.  132  foil.  (Leipz. 
1869). 

^^  Cp.  Horace,  Odes,  i.  3.  25  foil.:  "Audax  omnia  perpeti  Gens 
humana  ruit  per  vetitum  nefas,"  &c. 

^  Cp.  the  picturesque  legend  of  the  death  of  Philemon,  the  comic 
poet,  and  many  others. 


v.]  The  connection  of  Sin  and  Death.  155 

Admetus,  where  he  has  sojourned  so  long,  when  he 
sees  Death  approaching  to  claim  its  mistress  as  his 
victim : — 

"I,  lest  uncleanness  touch  me  in  this  house, 
Must  leave  the  roof  of  these  heloved  halls. 
For  yonder  close  I  see  the  approach  of  Death, 
The  dead  man's  priest,  who  comes  to  carry  her 
Far  down  to  Hades."— (^?m^/s,  22  foil.) 

And  at  the  close  of  the  Hippohjtiis^  Artemis  takes 
leave  of  her  favoured  servant,  who  is  dying  from 
the  misadventure  brought  on  him  by  his  father's 
mistaken  curse : — 

"  Farewell !  I  must  not  look  upon  corruption, 
Nor  soil  mine  eyes  with  thine  expiring  breath. 
And  thou,  I  see,  art  not  far  off  this  evil." 

{Rippolijtus,  1437—1439.) 

Even  ordinary  men  and  families  were  defiled  by 
contact  with  a  dead  body,  and  required  to  be  purified, 
much  as  we  read  in  the  books  of  Moses  ^^  I  need 
not  multiply  instances  of  this  familiar  sentiment, 
which  in  some  religions,  like  that  of  the  Parsis,  is 
carried  to  a  great  height  of  extravagance  ^\  though 

25  Cp.  Dollinger,  Reidenthum,  p.  198,  quoting  Eur.,  Ijph.  Taur. 
380  ;  and  Pollux,  Onomasticon,  8.  7.  Similar  instances  maybe  found 
in  Thuc.  iii.  104  (purification  of  Delos) ;  Festus,  s.  v.  Aqtia  et  igni ; 
Virg.,  jEn.  vi.  149, 150  (Misenus) ;  Liv.  ii.  8  (Horatius  interrupted 
while  dedicating  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus). 

3«  See  esp.  VendUdd,  Fargard,  iii.  14  foil.  p.  26,  ed.  Darmesteter, 
and  almost  the  whole  of  Fargards  v.— xii.  Cp.  Darmesteter's  In- 
troduction, v.  20,  esp.  p.  xcviii. :  "No  one  should  wonder  at  the  un- 
qualified cleanser  being  put  to  death  who  reads  Demosthenes' 
NecBra;  the  Persians  who  defiled  the  ground  by  burying  a  corpse 
were  not  more  severely  punished  than  the  Greeks  were  for  defiling 
with  corpses  the  holy  ground  of  Delos  [Diodorus,  xii.  58],  or  than 


156    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

having  parallels  even  in  its  extravagances  in  other 
details  of  Aryan  legislation.  Nor  will  it  be  neces- 
sary to  remind  you  of  the  special  horror  attaching  to 
homicide,  particularly  to  malicious  and  premeditated 
murder.  You  know  how  in  many  nations  the  man- 
slayer  becomes  an  outlaw  and  a  fugitive,  and  is  de- 
barred from  hearth  and  altar,  and  is  ordered  to  be 
slain  by  the  next  of  kin  as  a  sacred  duty.  The  man 
who  of  his  own  will  causes  death  is  thus  confessed  to 
be  a  chief,  if  not  always  the  chief,  of  sinners,  because 
he  not  only  takes  a  step  towards  death,  as  all  sinners 
do,  but  audaciously  introduces  it  into  God's  world  of 
life  and  freedom. 

2.  Attempts  at  Atonement. 

Such  being  the  heathen  conscience  of  sin  and 
of  separation  from  God,  we  must  next  proceed  to 
enquire  what  means  were  resorted  to  in  the  hope  of 
healing  the  breach.  Four  of  these  stand  out  with 
great  clearness  in  almost  all  nations,  viz.  (1)  Con- 
fession of  sin ;  (2)  lustral  washings  and  purifications ; 
(3)  bodily  penances,  such  as  fasting;  (4)  sacrifice. 
To  give  an  account  of  all  these  would  be  almost  to 
write  the  history  of  non-Christian  rituals.  I  can  at 
present  merely  indicate  some  of  the  more  prominent 
instances,  and  the  thoughts  that  seem  to  underlie 

the  conquerors  at  Arginousae ;  nor  would  the  Athenians,  who  put 
to  death  Atarbes  [^lianus,  Hist.  Far.  v.  17],  have  much  stared  at 
the  awful  revenge  taken  for  the  murder  of  the  sacred  dog.  There 
is  hardly  any  prescription  in  the  Vendidad,  however  odd  and  absurd 
it  may  seem,  but  has  its  counterpart  or  its  explanation  in  other 
Aryan  legislations ;  if  we  had  a  Latin  or  a  Greek  Vendidad,  I  doubt 
whether  it  would  look  more  rational." 


v.]  Attempts  at  Atonement.     Confession.  157 

them,  especially  the  first  and  fourth,  which  are  the 
most  important. 

With  regard,  first,  to  confession  of  sin,  we  must 
recollect  that  it  is  presumed  as  the  foundation  of  all 
rites  of  atonement,  even  when  not  expressly  men- 
tioned. When  a  man  fled  to  the  priest  of  Apollo  (let 
us  say)  to  be  purified  of  a  murder,  he  went  in  forma 
poenitentis.  His  very  presence  was  a  confession  of 
impurity.  When  we  see  him  touched  by  the  sacred 
laurel  bough,  we  are  instinctively  reminded  of  the 
first  murderer,  Cain,  under  sentence  of  banishment, 
crying  to  God,  "  My  guilt  is  greater  than  I  can  bear," 
and  receiving  from  Him  a  mark  or  sign,  lest  any 
finding  him  should  kill  him^^.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  have,  however,  a  very  slight  sense  of  the  im- 
portance of  confession  of  sin  compared  with  many 
other  nations. 

Amongst  the  Assyrians,  for  instance,  we  find  lita- 
nies of  deprecation,  which  for  depth  and  force  of 
feeling  come  perhaps  nearest  to  the  Psalms  of  any 
heathen  utterances.  The  following  passages  of  the 
lamentation  of  a  sinner  cannot  have  been  written 
except  by  one  who  had  a  genuine  idea  of  the  relation 
between  God  and  man :  — 

"  I  lay  on  the  ground,  and  no  man  seized  me  by  the  hand. 
I  wept,  and  my  palms  none  took. 
I  cried  aloud :  there  was  none  that  would  hear  mc. 
I  am  in  darkness  (and)  trouble :  I  lifted  not  myself  up. 
To  my  God  my  (distress)  I  referred :  my  prayer  I  addressed. 

^■^  The  word  (^avon)  which  we  translate  "punishment"  seems 
more  probably  taken  to  mean  "  guilt."  Cp.  Lenormant's  parallels 
in  his  book  above  cited,  Les  Origines  do  Vllistoire,  pp.  172  foil. 


158    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

The  feet  of  my  goddess  I  embraced. 

To  (my)  God  who  knew,  (though)  I  knew  not,  (my  prayer) 

I  addressed. 
To  (my)  goddess,  who  knew  (though.  I  knew  not,  my  prayer) 

I  addressed." 

And  after  a  little, — 

"  0  Lord,  Thy  servant  Thou  dost  not  restore. 
In  the  waters  of  the  raging  flood  seize  his  hand. 
The  sin  (that)  he  has  sinned  to  blessedness  bring  back. 
The  transgression  he  has  committed  let  the  wind  carry  away. 
My  manifold  affliction  like  a  garment  destroy. 
0  my  God,  seven  times  seven  (are  my)  transgressions,  my 

transgressions  are  before  (me). 
[(To  be  repeated)  10  times.] 
0  my  goddess,  seven  times  seven  (are  my)  transgressions  ^^." 

Next  to  them,  and  little  if  at  all  inferior  to  them, 
appear  to  be  the  confessions  of  sin  amongst  the  Old 
Persians  and  Mexicans.  The  former  attached  great 
spiritual  ejSicacy  to  repentance,  as  appears  in  the 
Avesta,  where  the  following  words  are  ordered  to 
be  spoken  over  the  corpse  of  one  declared  by  their 
law  to  be  a  great  criminal,  and  as  such  just  bar- 
barously executed : — 

"  The  man  here  has  repented  of  all  his  evil  thoughts, 
words  and  deeds.  If  he  has  committed  any  other  evil  deed, 
it  is  remitted  by  his  repentance  :  if  he  has  committed  no 
other  evil  deed,  he  is  absolved  by  his  repentance  for  ever 
and  ever  ^^." 

^  Portions  of  an  Accadian  Penitential  Psalm,  tr.  by  Prof.  A.  H. 
Sayce  in  Records  of  the  Past,  vol.  vii.  pp.  154,  155.  Cp.  vol.  iii. 
p.  136,  where  a  quotation  nearly  to  the  same  eff'ect  is  given  by 
Mr.  H.  Pox  Talbot.  Pr.  Lenormant  has  some  striking  short  quo- 
tations, Origines  de  Vllistoire,  pp.  173 — 175. 

^^  Vendiddd,  Far  gar  d  iii.  21,  pp.  27,  28,  ed.  Darmesteter;  cp. 
Fargard  v.  26,  p.  57,  and  Introduction,  v.  22, 


Y.]   Assyrian^  Persian^  and  Mexican  Confessions.    159 

The  more  modern  Patets,  or  confessions,  are  ex- 
tremely full,  and  specially  concerned  with  sins  of 
thought  as  well  as  word  and  deed,  and  are  more 
directly  connected  with  the  Creed  of  Parsism  than 
is  the  case  with  other  religions ;  for  there  the  con- 
fession of  faith  leads  up,  as  in  our  Liturgy,  to  the 
confession  of  sin'^'^,  a  fact  which  stamps  the  prac- 
tical theology  of  the  people  as  of  a  very  high  kind. 

The  Mexican  confessions,  collected  by  the  Fran- 
ciscan Bernardino  de  Sahagun,  are,  if  genuine,  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  religious  documents  in  the 
world  ^\  They  are,  I  think,  probably  none  the  less 
real  from  the  extraordinary  mixture  of  refined  spi- 
rituality with  abominable  superstition  which  they 
exhibit — a  combination  which  is  characteristic  of 
the  nation  in  which  they  appear.  One  remarkable 
point  about  the  act  of  confession  was  that  it  could 
never  be  repeated :  it  could  only  be  performed  once 
in  a  lifetime,  and  set  free  from  civil  and  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual  penalties — not,  as  among  the 
Parsis,  from  future  punishment  only  in  another 
world.  The  ceremony  consisted  in  long  addresses 
on  the  part  of  the  confessor,  first  interceding  with 
the  god  for  the  penitent,  and  then  turning  to  him 
to  emphasize  the  blackness  and  self-will  of  his  crimes. 

"  Of  thine  own  will  and  volition  thou  hast  defiled  and 
stained  thyself,  and  rolled  in  filth,  and  in  the  uncleanness 
of  the  sins  and  evil  deeds  that  thou  hast  committed  and 

*"  These  Patets  may  be  found  in  Spiegel's  Avesta,  tr.  by  A.  H. 
Bleeck,  vol.  iii.  pp.  153,  171  (Hertford,  1864). 

■*'  They  may  be  found  in  H.  H.  Bancroft's  Native  Races  of  the 
Pacific  States,  vol.  iii.  pp.  220  foil.,  280  foil.  (New  York,  1875), 
a  wonderful  digest  of  information. 


160    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

now  confessed.  .  .  .  Verily,  thou  hast  come  to  the  fountain 
of  mercy,  which  is  like  very  clear  water,  with  which  filthi- 
nesses  of  the  soul  are  washed  away  by  our  Lord  God,  the 
protector  and  favourer  of  all  that  turn  to  him.  .  .  .  Thou 
hast  snatched  thyself  from  Hades,  and  hast  returned  again 
to  come  to  life  in  this  world  as  one  that  comes  from  another. 
Now  thou  hast  been  born  anew,  thou  hast  begun  to  live 
anew,  and  our  Lord  God  gives  thee  light  and  a  new  sun" 
(p.  223). 

He  then  goes  on  to  caution  him  against  pride, 
and  to  bid  him  beware  of  the  invisible  tortures  of 
another  world : — 

"Therefore  I  intreat  thee  to  stand  up  and  strengthen 
thyself,  and  be  no  more  as  thou  hast  been  in  the  past.  Take 
to  thyself  a  new  heart  and  a  new  manner  of  living,  and  take 
good  care  not  to  turn  again  to  thine  old  sins." 

.  He  is  then  directed  to  sweep  and  cleanse  his  house, 
that  it  may  be  pleasing  to  the  invisible  God,  who  is 
ever  walking  amongst  men;  and  further,  he  is  en- 
joined to  offer  a  human  sacrifice :  "  Seek  out  also 
a  slave  to  immolate  him  before  God  ;  make  a  feast 
to  the  principal  men," — no  doubt  on  the  flesh  of  the 
victim, — "  and  let  them  sing  the  praises  of  our  Lord." 
The  man  himself  is  further  advised  to  do  penance  in 
the  temple,  wounding  himself,  and  pricking  himself 
with  thorns,  and  passing  osier  twigs  through  holes 
which  he  has  made  in  his  tongue  and  his  ears.  He 
is  lastly  ordered  to  give  alms  to  the  hungry  and 
to  clothe  the  naked: — "Look  to  it:  for  their  flesh 
is  like  thy  flesh,  and  they  are  men  as  thou.  Care 
most  of  all  for  the  sick,  they  are  the  image  of  God  " 
(p.  225). 


v.]  Confession^  Lustration^  and  Penance.  161 

In  other  cases  fasting  was  enjoined  as  a  penance, 
and  certain  smaller  ofiferings  to  the  god  or  goddess 
supposed  to  be  interested  in  the  special  class  of  sins 
confessed  (pp.  233,  234). 

I  must  not  attempt  to  cite  other  formulae  of  con- 
fession, such  as  those  of  the  Vedic  hymns  ^-^  (with 
which  many  here  are  familiar),  or  the  curious  nega- 
tive confession  of  the  Egyptian  ritual  of  the  dead, 
which  is  so  remarkable  a  mirror  of  the  self-satis- 
faction of  that  haughty  people,  even  while  testify- 
ing to  the  fact  that  sin  separates  from  God  ^^. 

I  must  also  pass  over  the  very  interesting  subject 
of  lustrations  and  penances,  which  by  their  similarity 
everywhere  testify  so  strikingly  to  the  unity  of  the 
human  race,  and  to  the  common  sentiment  of  a  taint 
of  sin  clinging  to  our  nature  in  birth,  in  its  passage 
through  this  world,  and  in  its  transit  by  death  to 
another  ^*.     For,  interesting  as  these  things  are,  the 

*-  They  are  quoted  by  Prof.  Max  Miiller,  Chips,  vol.  i.  pp.  39 — 
41  (London,  1868) ;  Selected  Essays,  ii.  148  foil.,  and  elsewhere. 

Cp.  Dean  Church,  The  Sacred  Poetry  of  Early  Religions,  p.  30  foil. 

The  following  prayer  is  at  present  used  after  the  Gayatri  [see 
above,  p.  76,  note  11]  by  many  religious  persons  among  the  Hindus 
(ace.  to  Prof.  Monier  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  p.  146,  note  1) : — 
*'  I  am  sinful,  I  commit  sin,  my  nature  is  sinful,  I  am  conceived  in 
sin.  Save  me,  0  thou  lotus-eyed  Hari  [Vish?2u],  the  remover  of  sin." 

^  Contained  in  the  Book  of  the  Lead,  ch.  125  (tr.  by  Birch  ia 
the  last  vol.  of  Bunsen's  Egypt),  and  in  the  later  Book  of  Res^n- 
rations,  tr.  in  Records  of  the  Past,  vol.  iv.  p.  127.  Cp.  Benouf, 
Hibhert  Lectures,  p.  195  foil.;  Bollinger,  Heidenthum,  p.  430 ; 
Dunckcr,  Hist,  of  Antiquity,  tr.  by  E.  Abbott,  vol.  i.  p.  179. 

*^  E.g.  Mr.  H.  H.  Bancroft  (a  perfectly  unbiassed  witness) 
writes  : — '*  The  fact  that  infants  were  baptized  [among  the  Mexi- 
cans] immediately  after  birth,  proves  that  these  people  believed 
with  the  Christians  and  Jews  that  sin  is  inherited." — {Native 
Races  of  the  Pacific,  vol.  iii.  p.  439.) 


162    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

culminating  point  of  these  efforts  of  natural  peni- 
tence is  found  with  even  greater  unanimity  in  sacri- 
fice, and  that  of  a  peculiar  kind.  All  sacrifice,  in- 
deed, is  founded  upon  the  same  moral  motive  of  self- 
denial.  This  appears  in  the  thank-offering  for  the 
harvest,  and  in  the  homage-sacrifice,  by  which. man 
dedicates  himself  to  a  particular  protecting  deity, 
quite  as  certainly  as  in  the  sin-offering  or  expiation ; 
and  it  is  a  very  feeble  theory  of  natural  religion 
which  sees  only  a  gross  materialism  in  the  lower 
forms  of  sacrifice.  But  it  is  with  sin-offerings  that 
we  are  mostly  concerned  to-day,  as  embodying  the 
deepest  feelings  of  the  human  conscience  ^^. 

Two  ideas  specially  underlie  this  class  of  sacri- 
fices : — 

(1.)  That  the  most  efficacious  sacrifice  is  the  most 
precious,  the  best,  purest,  nearest,  dearest,  most  like 
ourselves,  or  what  we  should  wish  to  be,  that  in  which 
our  heart  and  will  is  most  bound  up. 

(2.)  That  the  sin  or  guilt  is  laid  upon  the  victim, 
and  carried  by  it,  and  so  passes  away  from  him  who 
offers  to  that  which  he  consecrates  and  presents  in 
his  stead  ;  in  other  words,  the  idea  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment or  substitution. 

These  two  ideas  explain  the  general  resort  to  blood- 
shedding  in  sin-offerings.  The  blood  is  identified 
with  the  life.  It  is  at  once  the  seat  of  the  passions 
which  have  caused  the  sin,  and  of  the  soul,  which, 
as  the  most  valuable  and  irrevocable  gift  we  know, 
is  poured  out  to  atone  for  the  wrong  committed.    The 

^'  On  this  subject  in  general  cp.  Delitzsch,  Christliche  Apolo' 
,  pp.  167—177  (Leipz.,  1869). 


v.]  Ideas  underlying  Sin-offerings.  163 

heart,  again,  for  a  like  reason,  is  especially  chosen 
as  the  portion  to  be  presented  to  the  god,  it  is  most 
scrupulously  examined  for  omens,  and  a  victim  with- 
out a  heart  is  supposed  to  be  a  particularly  bad  sign, 
as  if  it  could  be  no  proper  representative  of  the  feel- 
ing of  the  penitent.  The  offering  of  the  blood,  the 
pouring  of  it  on  the  altar,  the  sprinkling  of  it  upon 
the  penitent,  the  actual  washing  in  it  in  some  cases'""', 
are  further  symbolic  of  the  attempt  of  the  man  who 
has  done  the  wrong  to  identify  himself  with  the  vic- 
tim that  suffers  the  penalty.  Another  symbolic  ac- 
tion of  the  same  sort  is  the  imposition  of  hands  upon 
the  head  of  the  victim,  which  Herodotus  (ii.  39)  tells 
us  was  practised  by  the  Egyptians,  no  doubt  to  imply 
transmission  of  guilt.  The  Hindus  in  the  same  way 
teach  with  great  clearness  the  ideal  identity  of  the 
sinner  with  the  sacrifice  he  offers.  "The  sacrificer 
himself  is  the  victim,"  we  are  told  in  one  of  the 
Brahma?2as  ;  "  it  takes  the  very  sacrificer  himself  to 
heaven ^^:"  and  again:  "Whoever  is  initiated  in 
divine  service,  virtually  devotes  his  soul  to  all  the 
Gods''^"  And,  without  this  philosophic  idealism, 
the  same  sentiment  appears  amongst  the  Eomans 
in  the  well-known  lines  of  Ovid  : — ■ 

*^  See  the  quotations  in  Miiller's  Eimenides,  p.  124,  E.  T.,  and 
Dollinger's  Eeidenthum,  pp.  203,  626  foil.  The  Taurobolia  and 
Criobolia  were  actual  baths  of  blood,  in  which  the  penitent  or 
receiver  of  a  supposed  new  birth  stood  in  a  hole  in  the  ground.  They 
are  described  by  Preller,  R6m.  Mtjth.,  p.  738  foil.  Similar  things 
are  common  elsewhere. 

"  Taittiriya  Brdhnana,  p.  202,  quoted  by  Banerjea,  Avian 
Witness,  p.  206. 

^  Banerjea,  I.e.,  p.  211. 

m2 


164    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

"  This  heart  for  ours  ;  this  flesh  for  flesh  receive  : 
This,  for  a  better  life,  to  you  we  give"^." 

So  the  Eabbinical  Jews  at  the  present  time,  on  the 
day  of  atonement,  sacrifice  a  cock,  and  say,  "  Let  this 
be  my  substitute,  this  my  expiation ''°." 

In  consequence  of  this  feeling  great  pains  were 
taken,  wherever  religious  awe  was  strong,  to  secure 
the  most  beautiful  and  unblemished,  or  the  most  ap- 
propriate victim,  varying  with  the  sin  to  be  expiated 
and  the  attributes  of  the  deity  requiring  to  be  pro- 
pitiated. The  white  bull  and  the  ram,  emblems  of 
light,  beauty,  and  strength,  are  perhaps  especially 
prominent ;  and  amongst  the  old  Hindus  and  North- 
men the  horse  ^^  was  a  favourite  sacrifice  for  the  same 
reason.  In  most  sacrifices,  too,  a  great  point  is  made 
of  willingness  to  die.  It  was  a  bad  omen  when  the 
victim  struggled  in  going  to  the  altar,  and  amongst 
the  Greeks  it  was  not  slaughtered  till,  by  an  inclina- 
tion of  the  head  (generally  obtained  by  a  trick  of  the 
attendant),  it  seemed  to  give  its  consent  to  the  stroke 
of  death  52. 

This  attempt  to  find  atonement  in  the  surrender  of 

*»  Ovid,  Fasti,  Yi.  161,  162:  — 

"  Cor  pro  corde  precor  :  pro  fibris  sumite  fibras. 
Hanc  animam  vobis  pro  meliore  damus." 

="  Delitzsch,  Christliche  Apologetik,  p.  354  (Leipz.,  1869).  On 
the  Moslem  feast  of  sacrifice,  see  Hughes'  Notes,  p.  173  foil. 

^'  Oa  the  asva-medha,  see  Monier  "Williams,  Indian  Wisdom, 
pp.  31,  343,  &c.  On  horse  sacrifices  amongst  the  old  Germans,  &c., 
J.Grimm's  Teutonic  Mythology,  tr.  by  Stallybrass,  i.  p.  47  foil. 
(Lond.,  1880).  On  the  curious  sacrifice  of  the  "October  horse" 
at  Rome,  see  Preller,  Rdmische  Mythologie,  p.  323. 

"  DiJllinger,  Heidenthum,  p.  209,  quoting  Plutarch,  qiicest.  symp., 
8.  8.  3;  Scholia  in  Apollonii  Argonautica,  i.  415.  A  little  water 
was  thrown  into  the  ear. 


Y.]  Self-devotion.  165 

life  for  life  reaches  its  climax  in  the  offering  of  man 
as  the  true  and  best  substitute  for  man,  in  which  the 
superstition  of  most  nations  has  for  a  time  culmi- 
nated. Human  sacrifice  is  an  extraordinary  mixture 
of  what  is  highest  and  lowest,  most  glorious  and  most 
detestable.  As  a  voluntary  act  of  self-surrender  it 
stirs  our  deepest  feelings.  Even  legends  like  that  of 
Chiron  willingly  taking  the  place  of  Prometheus  upon 
the  Scythian  rock  of  torture  ^^,  and  Alcestis  dying  for 
her  husband,  Admetus,  move  every  one  who  hears  them 
to  sympathy.  Much  more  do  we  feel  this  when  we 
read  in  history  of  a  king  like  Codrus  offering  himself 
to  die  for  his  people,  or  a  general  like  Decius  for  his 
army,    or   the    Chinese   Emperor   Thang^   devoting 

^^  Cp.  ^sch.,  Prom.,  1026  foil. ;  PreUer,  Griech.  Mythol,  i.  p.  79. 
Two  lines  of  Sophocles,  Q^d.  Colon.,  498  foil.,  have  also  been  well 
quoted  in  this  connection  (by  Luthardt,  Saving  Truths,  Lect.  v. 
note  8,  p.  322,  E.  T.),  where  ffidipiis  requests  one  of  his  daughters 
to  worship  the  Eumenides  in  his  place,  as  he  is  old  and  blind : — 
*'  Eor  e'en  for  myriads,  I  suppose,  one  soul 
Might  do  this  service  if  its  will  were  true." 

^  See  for  this  interesting  story  Prof.  James  Legge,  Sacred  Books 
of  China,  pp.  90,  91  (Oxford,  1879),  and  Religions  ofChitia,  pp.  54, 
55  (Lond.,  1880). 

When  he  had  taken  possession  of  the  throne  (n.c.  1766),  from 
which  he  had  driven  the  previous  dynasty,  he  made  a  remarkable 
announcement,  in  which  the  following  sentences  occur: — 

"  It  is  given  to  me  the  one  man  to  secure  the  harmony  and  tran- 
quillity of  your  states  and  clans ;  and  now  I  know  not  whether 
I  may  not  offend  against  (the  powers)  above  and  below.  I  am 
fearful  and  trembling,  as  if  I  were  in  danger  of  falling  into  a  deep 

abyss When  guilt  is  found  anywhere  iu  you  who  occupy  the 

myriad  regions  let  it  rest  on  me,  the  one  man,"  &c. 

For  seven  years  after  his  accession  (b.c.  1766 — 1760),  says 
Dr.  Legge,  there  was  a  great  drought  and  famine.  It  was  sug- 
gested at  last  by  some  one  that  a  human  \'ictiui  should  bo  offered 
in  sacrifice  to  Heaven,  and  prayer  made  for  rain.  T'ang  (or  Thung) 


166    The  natural  sense  of  Se2)aration  from  God.  [Lect. 

himself  as  a  victim  for  his  famine -stricken  subjects. 
Such  things  are  true  types,  in  their  measure  and 
degree,  of  the  self-surrender  of  the  Son  of  Man  for 
His  brethren.  These,  or  others  like  them,  were  those 
exceptions  to  human  selfishness  of  whom  St.  Paul 
thought  when  he  was  extolling  the  magnificence  of 
the  love  of  God,  in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners 
Christ  died  for  us  (Eomans  v.  7).  But  human  sacri- 
fice, as  a  ritual  institution,  in  which  unwilling  vic- 
tims are  slaughtered,  like  sheep  and  oxen,  is  to  the 
reflective  mind  the  most  abominable  and  even  dia- 
bolic crime.  It  is  further  not  unfrequently  connected 
•with  cannibalism.  It  has  nevertheless  (as  we  have 
said)  prevailed  at  some  time  or  other  in  almost  all 
nations '^^     In  Mexico  alone  it  was  calculated  that 

saiij,  "  If  a  man  must  be  the  victim  I  will  be  he."  He  fasted,  cut 
off  his  hair  and  nails,  and  in  a  plain  carriage  drawn  by  white  horses, 
clad  in  rushes,  in  the  guise  of  a  sacrificial  victim,  he  proceeded  to 
a  forest  of  mulberry  trees,  and  there  prayed,  asking  to  what  error  or 
crime  of  his  life  the  calamity  was  owing.  He  had  not  done  speak- 
ing when  a  copious  rain  fell.  The  ideas  of  substitution  and  con- 
secration are  thus  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  China,  but  they 
have  not  found  their  way  into  its  religious  ceremonies.  Delitzscii, 
Chr.  ApoL,  p.  171,  mentions  the  smearing  of  temples  and  temple 
vessels  with  blood  of  a  sacrifice,  as  the  relic  of  a  deeper  feeling 
about  sin-offerings;  and  alludes  (without  quoting  his  authority) 
to  the  brother  of  an  Emperor  "Wu-wang,  as  devoting  himself  to  save 
some  sick  people  :  ibid.,  p.  183. 

*®  On  human  sacrifices  generally  amongst  the  "  native  races," 
see  Georg  Gerland's  excellent  Essay,  Ueher  das  Aussterhen  der 
Naturvolker,  pp.  73 — 78  (Leipzig,  1868),  and  many  passages  of 
"VVaitz's  Anthropologie ;  cp.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  vol.  ii. 
pp.271,  385,  389,  398  (children),  403  (do.).  For  India,  see  H. 
H.  "Wilson,  Essays,  vol.  ii.  No.  v..  Human,  Sacrifices  in  the  An- 
cient Religion  of  India.  On  such  sacrifices  amongst  the  Mediterra- 
nean nations,  see  the  collections  from  Porphyry,  Clement,  Diony- 


v.]  Human  Sacrifice.  167 

some  20,000  persons  were  sacrificed  annually,  in  tlie 
j^ears  which  preceded  the  Spanish  conquest,  and 
seventy  or  eighty  thousand  were  butchered  at  the 
dedication  of  a  single  temple  '^''. 

And  these  were  not  only  men  who  might  pre- 
sumably be  slaves  or  captives  or  criminals,  but 
women  and  infants — the  latter  in  large  numbers. 
The  ceremonies  at  some  of  these  grim  festivals  cannot 
be  read  without  an  indescribable  loathing  ^'^.  Yet 
it  is  possible  to  trace  the  steps  between  the  two 
poles  of  best  and  worst,  and  to  imagine  how  the  too 
superstitious  penitent,  standing  before  the  altar  of 
the  unknown  God,  might  even  come  to  think  the 
sacrifice  to  Moloch  a  service  pleasing  to  an  offended 

sius,  Diodorus,  &c.,  in  Eusebius,  j9r«^.  Evang.,  iv.  16  ;  Lasaulx,  Die 
Sulmopfer  der  Griechen  und  R5mer,  pp.8 — 13(Wurzburg,  1841); 
DoUinger  and  Preller,  passim.  Human  sacrifice  was  forbidden 
at  Rome  in  b.c.  97  (see  note  64),  but  Cassius  Dio  tells  us  (xliii. 
24)  that  two  mutinous  soldiers  were  sacrificed  publicly  in  the 
Campus  Martins  by  the  Pontifices  and  Flamen  of  Mars,  after  the 
triumph  of  Julius  Coesar,  b.c.  46.  The  story  that  Augustus  immo- 
lated 300  prisoners  at  the  "Perusinae  araj"  to  Divus  Julius  is  less 
probable.  It  is  mentioned  however  by  Suetonius,  Octav.,  15  ;  and 
Dio,  xlviii.  14;  and  taken  for  granted  by  Seneca,  de  dementia,  i. 
11.  See  the  remarks  in  Merivale,  Eomans,  eh.  27,  vol.  3,  p.  244, 
ed.  1865.  The  sacrifice  of  a  condemned  criminal  (bestiarius)  to 
Jupiter  Latiaris  went  on  still  in  the  time  of  Porphyry  {de  Absti- 
nentia,  ii.  56).  See  the  Christian  authorities  in  xMarquardt,  E6- 
mische  Staatsverwaltung ,  iii.  p.  285  note ;  cp.  Preller,  Rotn.  Mytli.^ 
pp.  104,  191.  Heliogabalus  reintroduced  the  sacrifice  of  children 
into  Italy  from  Syria  (Lampridius,  Eeliogahahis,  ch.  8),  and  such 
things,  though  illegal,  continued  long  as  a  matter  of  private  magic. 
For  the  practice  of  the  nortliern  nations,  see  J.  Grimm,  Teutonic 
Mythology,  tr.  by  Stallybrass,  vol.  i.  pp.44— 46,  (Lond.,  1880). 

56  Bancroft,  1.  c,  iii.  pp.  442  ibll.,  &c.;  cp.Mozley's  University 
Sermon,  on  the  Atonement,  p.  186  foil.,  ed.  1,  1876. 

57  See  the  details,  Bancroft,  1.  c,  pp.330— 334,  354  foil.,  387,  &c. 


168    The  nainral  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

deity  ^^     The  primitive  and  uncultured  man  is  apt 
to  regard  children  and  slaves  so  little  as  independent 
beings,   so   much  as   appendages   and   attributes   of 
their  father  or  master,  that  he  has  scarcely  any  feel- 
ing of  injustice  in  disposing  of  their  lives  ^^     When 
the  king  of  Moab  offered  up  his  eldest  son  on  the 
city  wall  in  the  sight  of  the  invading  host  6*^,  and 
when  Manco  Ccapac  in  Peru  ^\  or  Thoro  the  Dane  ^'\ 
did  a  similar  act,  we  have  no  right  to  suppose  that 
they  were,  or  appeared,  simply  cruel  and  heartless. 
The  innocence  of  children  makes  them  seem,  like  the 
unblemished   and   snow-white   animal,    a   peculiarly 
fitting  sacrifice  for  sin.     The  very  point  which  makes 
us  shudder  so  much,  the  guiltless  suffering  of  these 
poor  babes,  was  the  attraction  of  the  rite  to  super- 
stitious minds.     Men  saw  that  a  pure  and  holy  thing 
was  a  better  substitute  for  sinners  than  an  unclean 
one.     So  it  is  also  that  superstition   assigns   great 
weight  to  the  rank  or  status  of  the  victim.     A  guest 
has  sometimes  been  sacrificed  simply  because  of  the 
peculiar  sanctity  attaching  to  hospitality,  and  a  king 
because  his   ofiice   is   so   highly  honoured.      When 
the  Swedes  in  a  grievous  famine  sacrificed  their  king, 
Domaldi  %  i}iQj  felt  perhaps  not  so  very  differently 

*8  Cp.  Porphyrius,  de  Ahstin.,  ii.  56  ;  S.  Augustine,  de  Civ.  Dei, 
vii.  19  ;  Diodorus  Sic,  xx.  14,  &c.  "The  image  was  of  brass,  with 
its  hands  outstretched  towards  the  ground,  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  child  when  placed  upon  them  fell  into  a  pit  full  of  fire." 
Smith's  Bible  Diet.,  s.  v.  Moloch,  p.  404. 

*"  See  on  this  topic  Dr.  Mozley's  Old  Testament  Lectures  (The 
Sacrifice  of  Isaac),  pp.  37 — 48,  (Lond.,  1877). 

""  2  Kings  iii.  27. 

"  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii.  385. 

These  two  instances  are  given  by  Grimm,  1.  c.,  p.  48. 


v.]         Human  Sacrifice.     Reaction  against  it.        169 

from  the  Chinese,  when  they  looked  on  Thang  dis- 
appearing in  the  forest,  or  the  Eoman  soldiers  who 
suffered  Decius  to  throw  himself  upon  the  Samnite 
spears,  and  Curtius  to  leap  into  the  gulf.  Nor  are 
there  wanting  cases  in  which  merely  religious  fervour 
has  led  people  to  sacrifice  themselves,  without  any 
special  motive  of  good  to  be  gained  by  the  action  for 
themselves  or  others''^.  Such,  then,  is  the  fatal 
strength  of  this  practice^  and  the  deep  seat  which  it 
has  obtained  in  the  human  conscience.  Yet  the  better 
feeling  of  men  has  happily  prevailed  in  many  in- 
stances to  stop  or  mitigate  such  practices.  An  echo 
of  the  angel's  voice  which  bade  Abraham  withdraw 
his  hand  from  slaying  Isaac,  was  heard  in  India,  and 
Greece,  and  Italy,  and  Egypt,  and  even  in  Mexico 
and  Polynesia,  telling  men  that  such  sacrifices  were 
contrary  to  nature  ^^  They  had  been  tried  and  found 
wanting. 

Human  sacrifice,  then,  is  the  climax  of  superstition. 
It  is  an  awful,  a  miserable  thing,  and  men  have  re- 

^  E.g.  those  mentioned  by  Bancroft,  Pacific  'Nations,  ii.  p.  336, 
and  those  who  are  popularly  supposed  to  throw  themselves  beneath 
the  car  of  Jagannath.  (See  however  Hunter's  Orissa,  vol.  i.  eh.  3, 
p.  133  foil.,  1872.)     For  other  cases,  cp.  Delitzsch,,  1.  c,  p.  174. 

"  On  the  cessation  of  human  sacrifice  in  India,  see  the  Aitareya- 
hrdhmaua,  as  quoted  by  Monier  Williams,  1.  c,  p.  31.  In  Egypt 
it  was  stopped  by  Amosis  ace.  to  Manetho,  and  in  Cyprus  by 
Diiphilus,  in  the  time  of  Seleucus  (Porph.,  de  Ahstin.,  ii.  55).  It 
was  forbidden  by  a  decree  of  the  Roman  Senate,  b.c.97,  Plin,, 
N.  E..,  XXX.  1.  The  puppets  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  the  'maense' 
and  the  *ver  sacrum,'  are  familiar  instances  of  the  same  feeling. 
In  Mexico,  the  gentle  god  or  hero-king,  Quetzalcoatl,  dissuaded  men 
from  such  rites  and  other  cruelties;  Bancroft,  vol.  iii.  pp.  250,269, 
282,  &c.  Gerland  notices  a  re-action  against  it  amongst  the  Fijiaris, 
Aussterben  der  N.  V.j-^.IQ. 


170    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

volted  from  it  with  almost  the  same  unanimity  of 
feeling  as  they  have  resorted  to  it.  With  this  revolt 
we  may  perhaps  connect  some  remarkable  mystical 
theories  of  sacrifice,  in  which,  as  it  would  seem,  the 
higher  minds  of  paganism  have  sought  to  find  that 
better  theology  of  atonement,  the  image  of  which  was 
for  ever  floating  before  them. 

Of  these  conceptions  we  receive  hints  from  many 
quarters,  especially  from  India,  in  which  so  many 
truths  and  half-truths  are  found  overgrown  with 
a  luxuriant  mass  of  error.  In  the  first  place,  sacri- 
fice, especially  in  the  form  of  austere  self-denial 
('tapas'),  is  looked  upon  by  the  Hindus  as  an  instru- 
ment of  mysterious  and  even  immeasurable  power. 
It  is  by  sacrifices  (they  say)  that  the  gods  have  at- 
tained to  heaven,  and  have  overpowered  the  spirits  of 
evil.  This  idea  is  indeed,  by  itself,  the  parent  of  many 
dangerous  consequences.  What  can  be  used  for  a 
good  end  can  be  used  for  a  bad  one  also,  and  Hindu 
mythology  tells  us  of  the  demon  Eavawa%  who  by 
his  austerities  obtained  a  selfish  control  over  the 
world,  and  even  over  the  gods ;  and  Hindu  practice 
issues  too  often  in  the  senseless  devotion  of  the  Yogis, 
or  ascetics.  ^Nevertheless  there  is  also  a  truth  in  the 
idea,  which  must  be  laid  hold  of  by  all  who  wish  to 
raise  their  fellow-men.  ''  It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive."  Self-denial,  which  is  the  moral  part 
of  sacrifice,  does  strengthen  the  will  and  enlarge  the 
powers  of  being,  doing,  and  suffering  in  such  a  mar- 
vellous way,  as  not  remotely  to  suggest  the  idea  of 
magic.  The  practice  of  giving  (for  instance),  as  many 
^  M.  Williams,  Indian  Wisdom,  pp,  344,  345. 


v.]  3ffjthical  theory  of  Sacrifice  in  India.         171 

persons  have  experienced,  may  be  extended  almost 
indefinitely,  and  is  by  no  means  inconsistent  with 
economical  saving,  and  becomes  a  sort  of  self-acting 
habit.  So  it  is  also  with  other  acts  of  sacrifice  and 
self-surrender,  which  may  be  practised  to  a  degree 
quite  undreamed  of  by  the  slothful  and  the  careless. 

We  cannot  wonder,  then,  that  the  Hindus,  with 
their  tendency  to  push  principles  to  extremes,  should 
impute  miraculous  properties  to  the  act  of  sacrifice, 
even  apart  from  the  motive.  But  they  have  gone 
further  still,  and  with  a  wonderful  theological  au- 
dacity have  ascribed  the  highest  act  of  self-denial 
and  self-sacrifice  to  the  Supreme  Being  Himself. 
This  point  has  been  brought  out  in  a  remarkable 
book  by  Mr.  Banerjea,  of  Calcutta,  called  the  Arian 
Witness^^j — a  book  which  (whatever  be  the  value  of  its 
ethnological  theories)  contains  theological  material  of 
no  slight  importance.  Thus  we  read  in  the  Brah- 
mawas  (as  cited  by  him)  : — 

"  The  Lord  of  creatures  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  for  the 
gods." — {Tandya  Maha  Brahmana,  vol.  i.  p.  410.) 

And  again : — 

"  To  these  (i.e.  the  gods)  the  Lord  of  creatures  gave 
himself.  He  became  their  sacrifice  ;  sacrifice  is  food  for 
the  gods.  He  having  given  himself  to  them,  made  a  re- 
flection of  himself,  which  is  sacrifice.  Therefore  they  say, 
the  Lord  of  creatures  is  a  sacrifice,  for  he  made  it  a  re- 

^^  The  Arian  Witness,  or  The  Testimony  of  Arian  Scriptures  in 
corrohoration  of  Biblical  History  and  the  rudiments  of  Christian 
Doctrine,  including  dissertations  on  the  original  Home  and  early 
Adventures  of  the  Indo-Arians,  by  the  Rev.  K.  M.  Banerjea,  (Cal- 
cutta and  London,  Trubner,  1875).     See  esp.  pp.  203—206. 


172    The  natural  seme  of  Separation  from  God.   [Lect, 

flection  of  himself;   by  means  of  this  sacrifice  he  redeemed 
himself  from  them." — {^'atapatha  Brdhniana,  p.  836.) 

The  Praja-pati,  or  Lord  of  Creatures,  according 
to  the  same  writer,  is  called  atmadcij  or  "  giver  of 
self,"  even  in  the  Eig-Yeda,  "  whose  shadow,  whose 
death  is  immortality  (to  us),"  (x.  121,  2)*^^^. 
.  Elsewhere,  in  a  more  complicated  form,  we  read  of 
the  sacrij&ce  of  Purusha,  that  is  "person,"  the  ideal 
man  or  soul  of  the  world,  "  begotten  in  the  be- 
ginning ^l" 

""When  the  gods  celebrated  a  sacrifice  with  Purusha  as 
their  oblation,  the  spring  was  its  butter,  summer  its  fuel, 
and  autumn  its  (supplementary)  oblation.  When  the  gods, 
celebrating  the  sacrifice,  bound  Purusha  as  the  victim,  they 
immolated  him,  the  sacrifice,  on  the  grass — even  him,  the 
Purusha,  who  was  begotten  in  the  beginning.  With  him 
as  their  offering,  the  gods,  the  Sadhyas  ^',  and  the  Pishis "", 
'  also  sacrificed." — {Hig  -  Veda,  x.  90,  6  and  7  ;  Taittiriya 
Aranyaka,  pp.  331—333.) 

These  striking  texts,  and  others  like  them,  shew 
a  deeper  view  of  this  rite  and  its  correlatives  than 

"  Banerjea,  1.  c,  p.  213.  On  Prajapati,  see  Muir,  Sanskrit 
Texts,  vols.  iii.  p.  4  foil.,  iv.  15—30,  45  foil.,  v.  390  foil.  Muir, 
however,  translates  (iv.  p.  16)  :  "  He  who  gives  breath,  who  gives 
strength,  whose  command  all,  [even]  the  Gods,  reverence,  whose 
shadow  is  immortality,  whose  shadow  is  death."  At^nadd  may 
mean  *'  giver  of  life  "  or  "  giver  of  self."  The  former  meaning  is 
the  only  one  recognized  in  Monier  Williams'  dictionary,  but  the 
cognate  word  dtmaddna  is  translated  "  gift  of  self,"  "  self-sacrifice." 

^  Biff -Veda,  x.  90,  the  Purusha  -  Sukta :  see  Muir,  i.  pp.  8 
foil.,  and  Appendix  III.  to  this  volume. 

^^  Sometimes  translated  "  regents  of  the  sky."  For  a  discussion 
of  the  original  meaning,  see  Muir,  1.  c,  vol.  v.  p.  17,  note  26. 

'"  The  liishis  are  the  inspired  seers  or  prophets  of  the  Vedas. 
For  the  supernatural  character  attributed  to  them,  see  Muir, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  245  foil. 


v.]  Sacrifice  of  the  Lord  of  Creatures.  173 

even  the  self-devotion  of  a  Decius  or  a  Eegulus. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  that  sacrifice  on  earth  is  the 
representation  of  some  divine  process  which  goes  on, 
or  has  gone  on  in  heaven  ;  and  that  the  deity  is 
virtually  and  sacramentally  present  in  or  with  the 
victim.  "  In  some  sense  (says  a  modern  writer)  God 
was  ofi'ered  up  to  God  "  ^^  And  in  the  later  mytho- 
logy, Yishjzu,  the  second  member  of  the  Brahmanical 
triad,  "  is  repeatedly  spoken  of  as  being  present  in, 
and  offered  up  with  the  victim ;  he  is  also  said, 
through  virtue  of  his  sacrifice,  to  have  obtained  pre- 
eminence among  the  gods." 

And  this  conception,  though  perhaps  most  clearly 
expressed  in  India,  is  by  no  means  confined  to  it. 
One  of  the  most  striking  parallels  to  the  self-sacrifice 
of  the  Lord  of  creatures,  meets  us  in  the  strange 
Eune-song  of  Odin  in  the  Edda  ("the  High  One's 
Lesson").  Many  readers  will  be  inclined  to  suspect 
a  Christian  influence  in  the  poem ;  but  reflection 
will,  I  think,  convince  them  that  this  influence, 
though  it  may  colour,  yet  does  not  originate  the 
myth,  and  that  we  have  here  a  foretaste  of  that  phi- 
losophic view  of  religion  which  has  been  so  strongly 
developed  amongst  the  modern  Teutons. .  It  may  be 
translated  as  follows  ^'^ : — 

"  1.  I  mind  that  I  hung  on  the  gallows-tree, 
Nine  whole  nights, 
"Wounded  with  the  spear,  and  to  Odin  offered 

^'  Yaughan,  The  Trident,  the  Crescent,  and  the  Cross,  p.  70  and 
note  ;  cp.  Muir,  vol.  iv.  p.  125,  for  sacrifice  of  Vish/m. 

"  I  have  to  thank  Dr.  G.  Vigfiisson  for  his  kind  help  in  this 
translation.  The  poem  has  lately  been  discussed  by  Karl  Blind, 
Discovery  of  Odinic  Songs  in  Scotland  {Nineteenth  Century,  No.  28, 


174    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

Myself  to  myself — 

On  that  tree  of  which  none  knows 

From  what  roots  it  sprang. 

2.  They  gave  me  no  loaf,  they  held  no  horn  to  me. 

I  peered  down,  I  caught  up  the  runes  (mysteries) 
With  a  cry;  then  I  fell  back  [i.e.  descended]. 

3.  I  learnt  nine  songs  of  might  from  the  son 
Of  Balethorn  Bestla's  father, 

And  I  got  the  draught  of  the  precious  mead 
Blent  with  inspiration  (Odreari). 

4.  Then  I  became  fruitful  and  wise. 
And  waxed  great  and  flourished  : 
"Word  followed  fast  on  word  with  me  ; 
And  work  followed  fast  on  work  with  me." 

Here  Odin  is  represented  as  hanging  on  the  tree 
with  unknown  roots,  that  is,  Yggdrasil,  the  great  ash, 
which  symbolises  the  world,  and  offering  himself  to 
himself ;  the  result  being  the  production  of  thoughts 
and  deeds,  i.e.  revelation  of  the  divinity  in  nature 
and  concrete  fact,  especially  in  the  form  of  the 
mystic  runes.  The  same  conception  of  a  suffering 
God  meets  us  in  another  form  in  the  myths  of  Osiris 
and  of  Adonis,  in  the  self-immolation  of  Herakles, 
and  to  some  extent  in  the  myth  of  Prometheus,  and 
in  a  number  of  other  stories — generally  connected 
with  the  changing  phenomena  of  the  seasons,  and 
similar  natural  facts.  It  comes  to  us  again  in  the 
strange  world  of  Mexican  mythology,  where  we  find 
a  stated  festival  called  "killing  the  god  Huitzilo- 
pochtli,  so  that  his  body  might  be  eaten '^" — in 
which  an  image  made  of  dough  was  pierced  with 

June,   1879,   vol.  v.  p.  1093),  but  apparently  without  sufficient 
knowledge  or  judgment. 

"  Bancroft,  vol.  iii.  p.  299.  Cp.  p.  315  for  his  comments;  and 
vol.  ii.  pp.  329,  330. 


v.]  Myths  of  Odin,  Osiris,  Sfc.  175 

a  dart  or  spear,  and  afterwards  parted  as  a  sacrament 
amongst  the  king  and  people. 

It  meets  us  yet  more  wondrously  in  a  similar 
festival,  in  which  such  an  image  of  the  God  of  fire 
was  raised  upon  a  cross-shaped  tree,  and  then  broken 
in  pieces,  and  thrown  upon  the  ground — a  most 
curious  illustration  of  the  myth  of  Odin^^.  Lastly, 
it  is  not  out  of  place  to  recall  the  custom  of  adorning 
human  victims  with  the  emblems  and  insignia  of  the 
God  to  whom  they  are  dedicated ;  and  thus  making 
them,  as  far  as  possible,  his  living  images  and  repre- 
sentatives. 

What  is  to  be  said  of  all  this  ? 

No  doubt  (as  we  shall  be  told  by  comparative  my- 
thologists)  there  is  a  pantheistic  element  in  these 
myths.  They  have  many  of  them  a  directly  natural- 
istic tendency,  and  some  are  vitiated  by  those  unholy 
associations  which  cling  to  most  forms  of  nature- 
worship.  They  might  at  first  sight  seem  little  more 
than  parables  of  the  supposed  process  by  which  in- 
finite being  or  substance  contracts  itself,  and  by  an 
act  which  may  be  described  as  self  -  surrender,  ex- 
presses itself  in  concrete  forms.      Yet  it  is  surely 

''^  Bancroft, -vol.  iii.  pp.  508,  509  :  "The  feast'of  the  maturity 
of  fruit  was  dedicated  to  Xiuhtecutli,  God  of  fire,  and  therefore  of 
fertility  or  fecundity.  The  principal  feature  of  the  feast  was  a  tall, 
straight  tree ;  which  was  stripped  of  all  its  branches  except  those 
close  to  the  top,  and  set  up  in  the  court  of  the  temple.  Within 
a  few  feet  of  its  top  a  cross-yard,  thirty  feet  long,  was  fastened ; 
thus  a  perfect  cross  was  formed.  Above  all,  a  dough  image  of  the 
God  of  fire,  curiously  dressed,  was  fixed.  After  certain  horrible 
sacrifices  had  been  made  to  the  deity  of  the  day,  the  people  assem- 
bled about  the  pole,  and  the  youth  scrambled  up  for  the  image, 
which  they  broke  in  pieces,  and  scattered  upon  the  ground." 


176    The  natural  sense  of  Separatmi  from  God.  [Lect. 

unreasonable  for  us  to  consider  this  a  full  account 
of  the  matter.  What  is  the  case,  then  ?  The  philo- 
sophical pantheist  speaks  of  God  losing  Himself  or 
finding  Himself  in  the  natural  universe,  and  so  out- 
rages the  fundamental  truth  that  God  is  eternally 
Personal  as  well  as  eternally  Infinite.  But  he  is, 
nevertheless,  feeling  after  a  truth  which  is  latent  also 
in  these  myths,  and  is  the  foundation  of  all  Chris- 
tian theology.  It  is  this,  namely,  that  God,  being 
Infinite,  has  stooped  by  creation  to  enter  into  inti- 
mate relations  with  the  Finite.  And  further,  that 
the  condescension  of  God  in  creation  is  akin  to  the 
act  of  sacrifice,  or  self-surrender,  as  practised  by  His 
creatures,  and  is  a  natural  prelude  to  the  whole  eco- 
nomy of  His  revealed  covenants  with  man,  and  spe- 
cially to  the  Incarnation  and  Atonement  of  the  Son 
of  God.  This  fundamental  mystery  of  the  union  of 
the  Infinite  with  the  Finite  is  travestied  and  mis- 
applied by  Pantheism,  and  appropriated  unfairly,  as 
if  it  were  the  property  of  a  particular  philosophic 
school.  But  it  is  the  basis  of  all  Christian  theology 
and  philosophy.  Without  it  we  are  in  hopeless  con- 
fusion ;  with  it  we  can  see  something  of  the  reasons 
of  God's  patience,  and  more  of  the  astonishing  love 
which  is  expressed  by  His  eternal  counsel  to  redeem 
the  world,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  it  is  carried 
out  in  time. 

We  perceive,  then,  even  in  these  distorted  myths, 
a  vague  groping  after  some  higher  form  of  atone- 
ment, than  that  which  was  ofi'ered  by  bloody  sacri- 
fices heaped  one  upon  another  with  all  the  energy 
of  conscience-stricken  superstition. 


y.]        Condescension  of  the  Infinite  to  the  Finite.     177 

The  true  explanation  of  them  is  not  a  mere  hope- 
less, helpless  reference  to  an  impersonal  process  of 
nature,  which  does  not  at  all  harmonise  with  the 
feelings  which  drive  men  to  sacrifice.  Their  real 
meaning  is  found  in  the  evangelic  proclamation  of 
the  eternal  love  of  God,  the  Creator,  Eedeemer,  and 
Sanctifier.  Let  those  who  go  forth  from  hence  tell 
the  Hindus  (as  they  will  tell  them)  that  God,  who 
has  stooped  to  make  the  world,  has  stooped  also  to 
die  for  it ;  that  in  His  eternal  counsel  the  Lamb  of 
God,  the  Lord  of  creatures,  the  giver  of  self,  was 
slain  before  the  world  was ;  and  that  He  died  in  fact 
and  deed  on  Calvary,  that  He  might  raise  all  created 
things  in  heaven  and  earth  a  pure  sacrifice  to  God 
the  Father. 

3.  This  thought  naturally  leads  us  to  the  con 
elusion,  which  requires  very  few  words  to  demon- 
strate, namely,  the  obvious  failure  of  these  efforts, 
by  themselves,  to  obtain  reconciliation  with  God. 
The  natural  conscience  cannot,  in  fact,  conceive  of 
the  remission  of  sin. 

We  have  seen  something  of  the  terrible  course 
which  superstition  has  run  in  this  world,  and  of  the 
revolt  of  a  better  feeling  against  its  e:^travagances. 
The  evils  of  overstrained  religion  were  apparent  not 
only  to  earnest  Epicureans  like  Lucretius,  or  self-con- 
tained Moralists  like  Confucius,  but  to  the  most  re- 
ligious minds  of  antiquity,  as  Plato  and  Plutarch. 

The  latter  has  written  a  striking  treatise  on 
Superstition,    which  he    compares  with   Atheism  '^ 

'^  Be  Super ititione,  vol.  i.  p.  651  foil.,  ed.  Wyttenbach  (Oxon., 
1795).     Cp.  Theophrastus'  character  of  the  Superstitious  Man. 

N 


178    The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect. 

The  former,  as  I  need  scarcely  remind  you,  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  one  of  his  characters  an  eloquent 
protest  against  the  popular  misuse  of  religious  rites 
in  the  interests  of  injustice.  lie  expresses  something 
like  prophetical  indignation  at  those  who  think  that 
the  gods  can  be  bought  over  by  sacrifices  and  atone- 
ments, and  who  say  that  injustice  is  better  than  jus- 
tice, for  "if  we  are  unjust  we  shall  keep  the  gains, 
and  by  our  sinning  and  praying,  and  praying  and 
sinning,  the  gods  will  be  propitiated,  and  we  shall 
be  forgiven  '''^"  This  and  like  passages  will  occur 
to  many  of  you.  In  his  latest  scheme  of  a  polity, 
he  sums  up  the  matter  in  the  same  strain  of  dignified 
common-sense,  which  practically  rejects  sacrifice  as 
useless,  and  leaves  us  with  the  impression  that  par- 
don for  sin  is  all  but  impossible  : — 

■  "  You  should  first  attempt  to  teach  and  persuade  us  that 
there  are  gods  by  reasonable  evidences,  and  also  that  they 
are  too  good  to  be  unrighteous,  or  to  be  propitiated,  or  to  be 
turned  from  their  course  by  gifts.  For  when  we  hear  these 
and  like  things  said  of  them  by  those  who  are  esteemed  to 
be  the  best  of  poets,  and  orators,  and  prophets,  and  priests, 
and  innumerable  others,  the  thoughts  of  most  of  us  are  not 
set  upon  abstaining  from  unrighteous  acts,  but  upon  doing 
them  and  making  atonement  for  them"." 

The  tendency,  then,  of  heathen  feeling  was,  if  not 
altogether  to  give  up  the  practice  of  sacrifice,  yet  to 
restrain  it,  and  especially  to  drop  those  bloody  sin- 
offerings ''^  which  had   been    entered  upon  with  so 

'®  Rep.,  ii.  p.  366,  a  speech  put  into  the  mouth  of  Adcimantus, 
brother  of  Glaucon.  "  Laws,  x.  p.  885. 

'^  Cp.  Dean  Merivale  in  Chr.  Evidenca  Lectures,  ser.  2,  pp. 
364  foil,,  and  Porphyrius,  de  Abstin.,  ii.  chaps.  11,  12,  33,  43. 


v.]        Confessions  of  the  uselessness  of  Sacrifice.       179 

much  zest  and  hopefulness.  They  had  been  tried, 
and  found  wanting.  They  did  not  give  man,  what 
his  conscience  told  him  was  the  real  thing  necessary, 
a  sense  of  righteousness  and  holiness,  which  could 
make  him  stand  cheerfully  before  an  offended  God. 
The  superstitious  man,  with  his  eternal  anxiety  to 
have  every  little  detail  of  the  sacrificial  act  correct, 
and  his  fear  lest  some  point  might  be  omitted,  some 
name  or  word  unuttered,  some  god  not  invoked,  was 
a  perpetual  evidence  of  their  uselessness.  St.  Paul, 
when  he  criticized  the  altar  to  the  unknown  God, 
was  only  saying  what  the  stronger,  saner-minded 
heathens  were  saying  all  about  Him,  But  these 
men  could  not  but  feel  that  they  were  involved  in 
an  insoluble  difficulty.  Man  is  confessed  to  be  sin- 
ful, and  all  the  ritual  of  atonement  is  pronounced 
useless  or  immoral.     What,  then,  is  to  become  of  the 

On  the  uselessness  of  sacrifice  and  means  of  purification  as  held 
by  the  Buddhists,  see  Dhammapada,  ch.  viii.  ;  Sacred  Booh,  x. 
p.  32;  —  "Whatever  a  man  sacrifice  in  this  world  as  an  offer- 
ing or  as  an  oblation  for  a  whole  year  in  order  to  gain  merit, 
the  whole  of  it  is  not  worth  a  quarter  (a  farthing) ;  reverence 
shewn  to  the  righteous  is  better."  Also  v.  127,  p.  35:  "Not 
in  the  sky,  not  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  not  if  we  enter  into  the 
clefts  of  the  mountains,  is  there  known  a  spot  in  the  whole  world 
where  a  man  might  be  freed  from  an  evil  deed."  ,  Their  theory  of 
the  origin  of  sacrifice  in  Brahmanical  covetousness  is  given  in  the 
Brdhmana-dhammiha-sutta  of  the  Sutta-Nipclta,  ih.,  part  2,  p.  50. 
Slaughter  of  animals  was  entirely  prohibited  by  the  Girnar  edicts 
of  Priyadarsi,  or  Asoka,  tablet  i.  :  see  Arclmological  Survey  of 
Western  India,  p.  98  foil.,  ed.  Jas.  Burgess  (India  Office,  1876); 
or  Wheeler's  History  of  India,  vol.  iii.  p.  458,  1874.  In  India, 
bloody  sacrifices  are  at  present  abolished,  except  at  the  altars  of 
the  hideous  goddess  Kali  or  Durga,  and  are  repugnant  to  the  feel- 
ings of  the  better  classes  of  Hindus  :  Monier  Williams,  Hinduism 
(s!p.C.K.).  p.  42. 

N  2 


180  The  natural  sense  of  Separation  from  God.  [Lect.  V. 

guilty,  that  is,  of  all  men  ?  How  are  sinners  to  ob- 
tain remission  of  sins  ?  It  is  very  well  for  an  accom- 
plished poet  to  sing, — 

**  The  sprinkled  salt,  the  votive  meal, 
As  soon  [God's]  favour  will  regain, 
Let  but  the  hand  be  pure  and  leal, 
As  .all  the  pomp  of  heifers  slain";  " 

but  what  of  those  myriad  hands  which  are  not 
pure  or  leal,  amongst  which  the  poet  in  his  graver 
moments  must  assuredly  have  numbered  his  own  ? 

The  human  conscience,  then,  without  the  Christian 
revelation,  has  before  it  these  two  great  facts,  that 
God  is  holy  and  man  is  sinful ;  but  it  is  incapable 
of  reconciling  them.  Man,  therefore,  alternates  be- 
tween  presumption  and  despair,  between  incredulity 
and  superstition.  His  conscience  speaks  to  him  of 
punishment  and  death,  and  yet  he  feels  that  he  was 
not  meant  by  God  to  die,  but  to  live.  He  tries  all 
means  of  self-torture  and  asceticism  in  vain  ;  he  con- 
fesses sin,  and  purifies  himself  in  vain  ;  he  frequents 
secret  mysteries,  and  plunges  into  fanatic  orgies, 
and  heaps  rites  on  rites  in  vain ;  he  forms  mystic 
theories  of  sacrifice  in  vain ;  nothing  will  give  him 
the  holiness  he  so  eagerly  and  rightly  desires,  but 
union  by  faith  with  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God. 

"  Horace,  Odes,  iii.  23,  last  stanza,  Conington's  translation. 
I  have  substituted  "  God's"  for  "  their,"  referring  in  the  original 
to  the  Penates,  in  order  to  make  the  sentiment  more  generally 
intelligible. 


181 


LECTURE   VI. 


ISAIAH  XXXV.  7,  8. 

The  parched  ground  shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  land 

springs  of  water :  in  the  habitation  of  dragons,  where  each 

lay,  shall  be  grass  with  reeds  and  rushes. 
And  an  highway  shall  he  there,  and  a  way,  and  it  shall  be  called 

The  icay  of  holiness;    the  unclean  shall  not  pass  over  it; 

but  it  shall  be  for  those :  the  wayfaring  men,  though  fooh, 

shall  not  err  therein. 


THE  INCAENATION  AND  ATONEMENT  A  REVELATION  OP 

HOLINESS,   WOETHY   OF   GOD,   AND   MEET  FOR 

THE   NEEDS   OF   MAN. 

Isaiah's  prophecy:  God  leading  man  along  the  way  of  Holiness. 

Conflict  between  Hope  and  Reason. — (1)  Grandeur  and  breadth  of 
the  Doctrine,  worthy  of  God  who  reveals  it. — Majestic  power 
of  the  Creed. — Objections  on  the  side  of  Love  and  of  Justice. — 
Other  ways  of  reconciliation  suggested. — (2)  The  Atonement  and 
God''s  Love. — Inadequate  idea  of  Love  in  objectors  to  the  Atone- 
ment.— Its  fiery  quality. — "Work  of  sin  in  the  world. — Not  to  be 
lightly  dealt  with. — (3)  The  Atonement  and  God's  Justice. — The 
innocent  suffering  for  the  guilty. — Principle  of  Mediation. — 
"Willing  Sacrifice. — Mystical  appropriation  of  it.    , 

Practical  value  of  the  doctrine  (1)  Bevelation  of  the  guilt  and 
danger  of  Sin. — Necessity  of  this  thought. — Horror  of  separation 
from  God. — (2)  Christ  the  representative  of  the  race. — Idea  of 
Representation. — Messianic  prophecy. — Fragments  of  the  Idea  in 
heathenism. — Their  inadequacy. — Holiness  and  Humility  over- 
looked.—  Testimonies  of  non-Christian  teachers  to  Christ. — 
Union  of  Christians  with  His  work. — (3)  Direct  moral  example 
of  the  Redeemer;  its  value  to  individuals. 

TK  this   delightful  prophecy,   Isaiah   describes  the 
condition  of  the  redeemed  in  the  Messianic  age. 


182  The  CJmstian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

It  is  a  restoration  of  Paradise.  The  creative,  reno- 
vating power  of  God  shall  again  be  visible  in  nature 
and  in  man.  All  diseases  shall  pass  away.  Nature 
shall  no  longer  deceive  us,  or  the  beasts  be  at  war 
with  us.  The  mirage  shall  become  a  lake,  and  the 
desert  shall  no  longer  cause  us  to  go  astray.  A  clear 
road  of  holiness  shall  lead  up  to  the  Temple.  God 
shall  be  upon  it,  walking  in  the  way  to  guide  the 
infirm  and  the  simple  (so  the  Hebrew  seems  to  be 
most  clearly  and  truly  interpreted)  ^  "  And  the 
ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  return  and  come  to  Zion, 
with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads. 
They  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and . 
sighing  shall  flee  away." 

This  morning  I  wish  specially  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  in  the  work 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  In  Him  the 
mirage  has  become  a  lake ;  in  Him  we  see  God  walk- 
ing with  weak  and  erring  man,  and  guiding  him 
along  the  way  of  holiness. 

In  our  last  Lecture  we  saw  man  wandering  in  the 
burning  sands  of  the  desert,  alienated  from  God,  and 

^  V.  8  is  literally  rendered,  "And  a  raised  way  shall  be  there, 
and  it  shall  be  called  The  holy  way ;  that  which  is  unclean  shall 
not  pass  over  it,  and  he  for  them  {shall  be)  walking  [sing.]  in  the  icay, 
and  even  fools  shall  not  go  astray."  Mr,  Cheyne  sees  a  probable 
corruption  in  the  words  which  I  have  italicised;  but  I  venture 
to  doubt  this  judgment.  My  own  opinion  is  worth  little  on  such 
a  point,  but  I  have  the  support  of  Dr.  Neubauer  in  so  translating, 
regardless  of  the  Masoretic  punctuation,  and  in  referring  the  words 
"  for  them"  to  the  blind,  deaf,  lame,  and  dumb  mentioned  above, 
verses  5  and  6.  God,  that  is  to  say,  shall  be  their  guide,  walking 
for  them  in  the  way, — a  very  beautiful  and  natural  sense  to  give 
to  the  words,  "  v'hu  lamo  holek  derek." 


VI.]  Christ  walJcing  for  us  in  the  Way.  183 

constantly  deceived  by  the  mirage  of  superstition. 
The  hazy  glamour  of  beautiful  pools,  in  which  he 
hoped  to  wash  and  be  clean,  and  slake  his  thirst  for 
God,  drew  him  on  step  after  step,  only  to  lead  to 
disappointment.  But  Christ  promises  us  living  waters. 
He  bids  all  the  weary  come  to  Him.  He  is  Himself 
our  guide  upon  the  way  of  holiness.  He  goes  before 
us  to  the  heavenly  city,  and  there  offers  Himself 
a  sacrifice  for  all,  and  bids  all  men  share  in  it  and 
unite  themselves  to  it.  We  have  before  us  to-day 
the  great  mystery  of  His  Incarnation  and  Atone- 
ment: may  God  give  us  grace  to  look  upon  it  as 
He  would  wish,  who  has  given  so  wondrous,  so  in- 
effable a  gift  to  the  sons  of  men  ! 

At  the  close  of  the  last  Lecture  we  saw  that  the 
natural  conscience  is  left  with  an  insoluble  problem 
before  it.  God  is  holy  and  man  is  sinful,  but  all 
known  ways  of  atonement  are  incapable  of  recon- 
ciling him  to  his  maker.  Nevertheless,  man  feels 
that  he  was  made  to  be  at  one  with  God;  he  de- 
serves death,  but  he  was  intended  for  life.  In  other 
words,  God  is  both  just  and  loving ;  yet  how  can  He 
exhibit  His  justice  towards  sinners  without  disap- 
pointing the  expectation  He  has  given-  them  of  His 
love,  and  how  can  He  proclaim  His  love  without 
prejudice  to  His  justice?  The  heart  revolts  from 
the  idea  of  humanity  left  simply  to  itself,  adding 
sin  to  sin,  and  so  going  further  and  further,  deeper 
and  more  deep,  upon  the  horrible  road  to  death.  Tra- 
dition tells  us,  instinct  tells  us,  that  we  were  made 
in  God's  image,  that  we  are  "His  offspring,"  and 
that  our  truly  natural  state  is  to  be  in  union  with 


184         The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.      [Lect. 

Him.  Life  is  no  true  life  without  Him.  Nay,  with 
all  our  misery  we  have,  under  His  providence,  dis- 
covered many  palliations  and  even  cures  for  natural 
eviF.  As  Sophocles  well  reminds  us  in  his  noble 
choric  song  on  the  wondrousness  of  man : — 

"  In  all  things  provident,  in  none 
"Without  provision,  he  doth  rise 
To  meet  the  future,  and  alone 
'Gainst  Death  he  shall  bring  in  no  remedies  ; 
Yet  of  diseases  dire  escapes  he  doth  devise  ^" 

God  has  helped  us  already,  and  at  the  bottom  of 
all  our  troubles,  as  in  Pandora's  box,  hope  still  re- 
mains'* that  He  will  help  us  further.  But  then 
Conscience  turns  round  and  reminds  us  that  even 
if  we  repent  and  amend,  we  can  but  touch  the  fu- 
ture. The  past  still  remains  as  it  was.  The  ter- 
rible form  of  the  act  done,  which  cannot  be  undone, 
the  spectral  image  of  what  the  Buddhists  call  karma  ^ 
(literally  "doing"),  with  its  eternal  consequences, 
starts  up  against  us.  ''Whatsoever  a  man  soweth 
that  shall  he  also  reap,"  seems  like  a  law  of  nature 
from  which  there  is  no  escape.  Eepentance  may, 
indeed,  help  to  check  the  tendency  to  future  crimes, 

^  Cp.  Butler's  Analogy,  part  2,  chap.  5,  §  3. 

3  Soph.  Antigone,  360  foil. 

*  Hesiod,  Works  and  Bays,  94.  Preller  treats  this  as  a  mere 
false,  empty  hope  ;  comparing  ^schylus,  Prometheus,  252,  &c.  But 
he  refers  also  to  the  interesting  poem  of  Theognis,  1135 — 1150, 
in  which  Hope  is  described  as  the  only  God  left  amongst  men. 
Cp.  esp.  1143,  sq. — 

AXX'  o(^pa  TLs  (wei  Koi  Spa  (})aos  rjeXioio, 
fixTt^eav  nep\  6fovs,  'EXiriba  irpoa-pLfviroi. 

»  On  Karma,  see  T.  W.  llhys  Davids'  Buddhism  (S.P.C.K.), 
pp.  101 — 103  ;  and  above,  Lecture  iii.  p.  90. 


YL]  Conflict  between  Hope  and  Reason.  185 

but  it  cannot  have  a  retrospective  action  to  destroy 
the  past.  Humanly  speaking,  it  is  a  mere  cessation 
from-  sinning ;  for  to  repent  and  reform  is  an  obvious 
duty,  and  not  to  repent  is  to  add  another  sin  to  those 
we  have  already  committed  ^  An  old  proverb,  in- 
deed, tells  us,  in  words  which  our  hearts  echo,  though 
we  cannot  rigidly  justify  them : — 

"  Quern  poenitet  peccasse  paene  est  innocens." 

But  penitence  is  at  best  only  an  approach  to  inno- 
cence. There  always  remains  the  almost  to  discrimi- 
nate it.  And  how  rare,  how  nearly  unknown,  is 
perfect,  genuine  repentance ! 

At  this  point  of  suspense  comes  in  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement  effected  by  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  being  both  God  and  man,  of  His  own  free-will 
offered  a  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice  acceptable 
to  the  Father,  to  reconcile  the  creature  with  the 
Creator.  It  declares  that  He  is  able  to  save  all  to 
the  uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  Him,  and  that 
him  that  cometh  unto  Him  He  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out. 

The  heart  leaps  to  embrace  this  hope.  Is  it  also 
a  doctrine  which  it  is  a  duty  for  the  "reason  to  ac- 
cept ?     This  is  the  question  before  us  this  morning. 

In  treating  this  high  argument,  I  shall  follow  the 

®  I  have  here  paraphrased  some  sentences  of  [Bp.]  Edward  Steere 
On  the  Attributes  of  God,  p.  199,  a  valuable  book,  -which  I  venture 
to  hope  he  will  some  day  find  time  to  re-issue,  enriched  with  that 
deep  knowledge  of  the  natural  heart  of  man,  and  of  its  growth 
under  divine  grace,  which  his  almost  unique  experiences  in  Cen- 
tral Africa  would  furnish.  We  are  both  here  following  St.  An- 
selm,  Cur  Deus  Homo,  i.  20,  and  Butler,  Analogy,  pt.  2,  ch.  5,  §  4. 


186  The  Cliristian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

method  of  the  corresponding  Lecture  on  the  gift  of 
Truth,  and  shew,  first,  that  the  doctrine  is  worthy 
of  the  glory  and  majesty  of  Him  who  gives  it ;  and 
secondly,  that  it  satisfies  the  needs  of  man  who  re- 
ceives it. 

I. 

The  Atonement  considered  as  a  Gift  of  Holiness ^ 

worth?/  of  God  who  gives  it. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck 
with  the  grandeur  and  hreadth  of  the  doctrine.  We 
have  already  to  some  extent  anticipated  this  topic 
in  speaking  of  the  glorious  comprehensiveness  of. 
Christian  Truth  ^.  Whatever  objections  may  be 
made  to  the  doctrine  on  other  grounds,  none  surely 
can  lie  against  the  magnificent  fulness  and  richness 
of  result  which  the  New  Testament  ascribes  to  the 
work  of  Christ,  as  the  prophets  had  foreshadowed  it. 
It  takes  into  its  view  the  whole  human  race,  from 
first  to  last  (Eomans  v.  18,  19  ;  1  Tim.  iv.  10).  And 
not  only  does  it  extend  to  all  the  sons  of  Adam,  but 
it  has  a  gracious  influence  upon  the  highest  angels, 
nay,  upon  the  inanimate  creation  also.  It  is,  to  use 
St.  Paul's  glorious  language,  the  recapitulation,  the 
re-union  of  all  things,  both  that  are  in  heaven  and 
are  on  earth  (Eph.  i.  10 ;  Col.  i.  20).  It  is  a  revela- 
tion of  love  made  to  the  powers  on  high,  as  well  as 
to  ourselves.  It  is  one  of  the  things  which  "angels 
desire  to  look  into"  (1  Pet.  i.  12).  It  is  the  mys- 
tery hidden  from  the  ages  which  the  Church  is  now 
commissioned  to  reveal,  and  by  it  is  manifested  to 
all  powers  and  authorities  of  heaven  the  manifold 
^  See  above,  Lecture  iv.  pp.  112,  113. 


VI.]  Majestic  fowcr  of  the  Creed.  187 

wisdom  of  God  (Eph.  iii.  10).  It  brings  together 
past,  present,  and  future  in  such  a  marvellous  com- 
pleteness, that  all  the  energies  of  human  language 
are  exhausted  in  describing  it  "I  am  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last ; "  "  I  am  He  that 
liveth  and  was  dead,  and  behold,  I  am  alive  for  ever- 
more" (Eev.  i.  11,  18).  It  is  the  "love  of  Christ 
which  passeth  knowledge,"  which  fills  us  "  with  all 
the  fulness  of  God"  (Eph.  iii.  19). 

"Would  to  God  that  it  were  possible  to  rouse  ordi- 
nary Christian  people — who  too  often  say  the  Creed 
as  if  it  were  an  old  and  common-place  form,  to  be 
hurried  over  and  got  rid  of — to  a  sense  of  the  in- 
effable, the  infinite  greatness  of  this  mystery  !  The 
saying  of  the  Creed  is,  in  some  respects,  the  most 
important  part  of  the  public  service,  and  should  form 
a  portion  of  our  private  devotions  far  more  often  than 
it  usually  does.  It  seems  to  bring  us  into  the  pre- 
sence of  God  even  more  than  prayer,  because  prayer 
is  narrow,  and  often  selfish ;  prayer,  though  it  ought 
to  be  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  Spirit,  is  too  often  an 
echo  of  our  own  worldly  temper;  but  the  Creed  is 
God's  voice  speaking  in  us.  It  is  something  above 
us  and  beyond  us,  holding  us  up  wit!h  a  supremely 
powerful  grasp.  If  we  are  true  Christians,  we  feel 
that  in  the  Creed  "Mercy  and  Truth  are  met  to- 
gether, Eighteousness  and  Peace  have  kissed  each 
other."  God  has  done  for  us  great  things  of  which 
we  can  never  weary,  whose  riches  we  can  never 
fathom.  This  sustaining,  satisfying  power  of  the 
Creed  belongs,  indeed,  in  a  measure  to  all  confes- 
sions of  faith  and  hope  which  have  been  distinctly 


188  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

conceived.  We  have  seen  how,  in  his  confession  of 
sin,  the  old  Persian  leant  upon  his  Creed :  "  I  con- 
fess myself  a  Mazdaya^nian,"  he  says,  "a  Zarathus- 
trian,  an  opponent  of  the  Dsevas,  devoted  to  belief 
in  Ahura,  for  praise,  adoration,  satisfaction,  and 
laud ; "  and  then  he  goes  on  to  acknowledge  his 
sins  ^.  We  may  learn  even  from  the  atheistic  Budd- 
hist, who  so  constantly  throws  himself  outside  him- 
self for  protection:  "I  take  refuge  in  the  Buddha; 
I  take  refuge  in  the  Law  ;  I  take  refuge  in  the  Con- 
gregation ^" 

No  doubt  these  things  are  apt  to  become  formal 
in  the  repetition,  but  they  were  not  formal  at  first ; 
and  we  who  look  at  them  from  the  outside  have  the 
privilege  of  seeing  them  in  their  original  freshness. 
They  may  help  to  refresh  us,  just  as  the  face  of  a 
chance-met  stranger  may  revive  the  recollection  of 
a  beloved  friend.  They  may  fill  us  with  a  sense  of 
our  immeasurable  blessing  in  not  having  to  create 
for  ourselves  a  theory  of  redemption,  but  in  having 
so  grand,  so  noble,  so  infinitely  worthy  a  revelation 
set  before  us  in  the  triumphant  record  of  Him  "  who 
for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation  came  down  from 
heaven,  and  was  incarnate,  and  was  made  man;" 
who  for  us  was  crucified,  rose  again,  and  ascended, 

®  Khordah  -  Avesta ;  Patet  Aderhat,  Bleeck's  Avesta,  vol.  iii, 
p.  153  (Hertford,  1864). 

^  See  Ehys  Davids'  Buddhism,  p.  160 ;  and  above,  Lect.  iii.  p.  89. 
The  three  refuges  (Buddha,  Dharma,  and  Saiigha)  are  called  Tri- 
sarawa.  They  are  referred  to  in  the  Dhammapada,  verse  1 90 ; 
SuUa-Nipdta,  pp.  37,  38,  &c.  As  the  Triratna,  or  Trinity,  they 
are  worshipped  by  northern  Buddhists :  Eitel's  Three  Lectures, 
pp.  91  foil. 


YI.]  Ohjections  made  to  the  Atonement.  189 

and  whom  we  look  to  see  coming  again  to  claim  us 
as  His  own  in  glory. 

Such  is  the  majestic  breadth  of  this  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  and  Atonement.  There  are,  however, 
two  well-known  objections  to  it  as  a  revelation  of 
God's  nature,  which  attack  it  from  very  opposite 
sides.  The  first  puts  forward  as  its  pretext  the 
beautiful  attribute  of  Love,  and  asks,  Why  was  there 
this  need  of  a  great  sacrifice  for  sin  ?  Cannot  God 
reconcile  us  to  Himself  by  some  other  means  more 
purely  benevolent,  such,  for  example,  as  a  procla- 
mation of  His  pardon,  an  illumination  of  the  con- 
science, and  the  like  ? 

The  other  objection  takes  the  converse  side,  and 
attacks  the  Atonement  as  not  satisfying  the  idea  of 
justice.  How  can  God,  it  is  asked,  accept  the  suf- 
fering of  Christ  in  our  place  ?  Is  it  not  unjust  for 
the  innocent  to  suffer  for  the  guilty  ?  Would  not 
some  other  way  be  preferable  ?  Ought  not  all  men 
to  suffer  for  their  own  sins  ? 

Both  of  these,  you  see,  suggest  some  other  way, 
as  if  we  were  sufficient  judges  of  all  that  goes  on 
in  earth  and  heaven  ^^.     But  if  the  Atonement  is, 

1°  Cp.  Butler's  Analogy,  part  2,  ch.  5,  §  5,  note,  'p.  247,  ed.  Bohn, 
where  he  mentions  such  questions  as  this,  *'  which  have  been,  I 
fear,  rashly  determined,  and  perhaps,  with  equal  rashness,  contrary 
■ways.  For  instance,  whether  God  could  have  saved  the  world 
by  other  means  than  the  death  of  Christ,  consistently  with  the 
general  laws  of  His  government."  And  he  rejects  it  as  one  which 
cannot  '■'■  properly  be  answered  without  going  upon  that  infinitely 
absurd  supposition  that  we  know  the  whole  of  the  case.  And 
perhaps  the  very  enquiry,  icliat  would  have  followed  if  God  had 
not  done  as  He  has,  may  have  in  it  some  very  great  impropriety, 
and  ought  not  to  be  carried  on  any  further  than  is  necessary  to 
help  our  partial  and  inadequate  conceptions  of  things." 


190  TJie  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.      [Lect. 

what  we  liave  seen  that  it  is  proclaimed  to  be,  an 
act  influencing  the  whole  creation,  it  touches  a  very- 
large  region  of  which  we  have  only  the  faintest  con- 
ception. We  cannot  be  judges  at  all  of  its  propriety, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  directly  influences  ourselves ; 
and  even  here  we  have  no  power  of  judging  how 
other  untried  means  would  have  succeeded.  But, 
as  far  as  Scripture  is  concerned,  the  path  seems  closed 
against  considering  whether  other  means  would,  or 
would  not,  have  been  worthy  of  God. 

When  we  read  of  the  "  Lamb  slain  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world ^V'  ^f  the  "eternal  counsel ^V 
of  the  "  it  must  be  ^^,"  several  times  repeated  by 
our  Saviour  in  reference  to  His  sufferings,  we  can- 
not doubt  that  such  questions  of  other  possible 
ways  are  altogether  beyond  the  scope  of  Christian 
theology. 

But,  whilst  we  deny  that  any  other  way  of  atone- 
ment is  knowable  to  ourselves,  and  must  decline  to 
discuss  so  idle  a  question,  we  are  bound  to  reply  to 
any  specific  objections  made  to  the  one  which  we 
assert  God  to  have  revealed.  In  the  present  case 
there  are,  as  we  have  seen,  two  in  particular  before 
us,  one  which  finds  fault  with  Biblical  Eedemption 
as  too  hard  and  unloving ;  the  other,  which  cavils 
at  it  for  not  being  just  enough.  They  are,  there- 
fore, in  some  sense  mutually  exclusive ;  and  this  is 
one   of  those   many   cases  where   the   remark   long 

"  Rev.  xiii.  8  ;  cp.  xvii.  8,  "  Whose  names  were  not  written 
in  the  hook  of  life  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 

'"  TTpodetTis  Tmv  aldavav,  EjjJl.  Ul.  11. 

^2  Matt.  xxvi.  54;  Marh\\n.  31;  Lt(ke  ix.  22,  xvii.  25,  xxiv. 
7,  26,  44,  46,  in  all  of  which  del  is  used. 


VI.]  The  Atonement  and  Godh  Love.  191 

ago  made   holds   good,   that  Truth  takes   a  middle 
course  between  two  different  and  opposing  errors. 

2.   The  Atonement  and  God^s  Love. 

What  shall  we  say,  then,  to  those  who  think  the 
Atonement  a  hard  and  unloving  doctrine,  and  desire 
rather  a  proclamation  of  pure  benevolence  as  cha- 
racteristic of  our  heavenly  Father  ? 

This  difficulty  seems  to  arise  from  an  inadequate 
idea  of  the  nature  of  love  ^'*.  It  is  confused  with 
a  mere  dispassionate  benevolence,  with  a  general 
wish  to  make  everything  comfortable,  with  a  state 
of  mind  and  feeling  not  very  far  removed  from  the 
quiet  restfulness  of  the  gods  of  ancient  Greece,  as 
conceived  by  the  philosophers.  The  God  of  Plato 
in  this  differed  not  so  very  widely  from  the  God  of 
Aristotle  ^^  The  latter,  Kiuel  «?  epco/iefou,  moves 
others,  as  the  thing  loved  moves  by  the  force  of 
the  desire  it  excites,  but  He  for  His  own  part  has 
no  personal  action  or  movement  towards  them.  The 
God  of  Plato  is  more  active,  but  is  too  self-contained, 
to  force  himself  in  any  way  upon  the  love  of  men. 
But  the  true  God  is  very  different  from  these.  He 
not  only  wills  that  we  should  know  Him,  but  that 
we  should  love  Him.  "  We  love  Him  because  He 
first  loved  us,"  and  willed  to  make  a  conquest  of 
us  by  His  love.  It  is  this  expansive,  penetrating, 
fiery  love  of  God  that  is  the  hope  of  the  Christian, 

'*  Cp.  on  this  topic  Martensen,  Christian  Dogmatics,  §  157, 
p.  303  foil,  E.  T.,  and  p.  280  foil,  of  the  German  cd.  (Eeiiia, 
1870). 

'^  See  his  Metaphysics,  book  xi.  chap.  7,  containing  the  famous 
thesis  about  God  as  the  prime  mover. 


192  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

and  supplies  the  explanation  of  his  attitude  towards 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  and  Atonement. 

True  love  is  not  benevolence  :  it  is  a  burning  fire, 
a  passionate  eagerness  to  possess  the  souls  of  those 
whom  it  loves  J  a  grasping  after  love  in  return. 

It  is,  therefore,  closely  allied  in  God  to  anger. 
For  He  who  loves  us  for  our  entire  good,  cannot 
but  be  indignant  at  any  hindrances  which  we  create 
to  baulk  Him.  He  is  wroth  with  those  who  love 
Him  not,  with  those  whose  sins  interpose  a  thick 
cloud,  so  that  His  grace  cannot  shine  through.  Such 
love  is  akin  also  to  grief:  it  chafes  at  the  barriers  set 
up  by  self-will ;  it  is  distressed  by  the  meanness,  the 
impurity,  the  deadness  of  those  objects  on  which  we 
set  so  much  affection,  on  which  we  waste  so  much 
of  that  power  of  loving,  which  was  created  to  return 
to  Him  who  gave  it.  It  is  this  fuller  and  riper  idea 
of  love  that  enables  Prophets  and  Psalmists  to  speak 
in  such  glowing  terms  both  of  God's  love  and  God's 
anger,  without  seeing  any  contradiction  between  the 
two.  Thus,  in  the  great  proclamation  made  to  Moses, 
we  have  the  attributes,  ''  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keep- 
ing mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  and 
transgression,  and  sin,"  followed  without  a  break  by 
the  other  side,  "and  that  will  by  no  means  clear 
(the  guilty) ;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children,  and  upon  the  children's  children,  unto 
the  third  and  to  the  fourth  generation  "  (Exod.  xxxiv. 
6,  7).  The  same  lips  which  asserted  the  solemn 
truth,  ''our  God  is  a  jealous  God,"  and  "our  God 
is  a  consuming  fire,"  found  nothing  in  this  belief  to 


YI.]  Fiery  qiialitij  of  true  Love,  193 

prevent  them  ascribing  the  tenderest  mercy  and  com- 
passion to  the  Lord.  "Yea,  like  as  a  Father  pitieth 
his  own  children,  even  so  is  the  Lord  merciful  unto 
them  that  fear  Him.  For  He  knoweth  whereof  we 
are  made ;  He  remembereth  that  we  are  but  dust " 
(Psalm  ciii.  13,  14). 

When  once  we  have  risen  to  the  height  of  this 
conception  of  fiery  love,  we  have  less  difficulty  in 
understanding  the  condescension  and  self-sacrifice  of 
the  Son  of  God.  Sin  had  erected  a  huge  barrier 
between  God  and  man ;  day  after  day  it  was  grow- 
ing in  bulk ;  all  the  assaults  made  on  it  by  punish- 
ment were  unavailing.  Man  had  nothing  of  his  own 
to  off'er.  His  very  obedience  was  tainted  with  sin, 
and  certainly  could  not  take  away  the  guilt  of  pre- 
vious disobedience.  And  then  think  of  this  condi- 
tion as  contrasted  with  God's  glorious  design.  Man 
was  made  to  be  a  reflection  of  God,  to  shine  back 
upon  Him  as  an  image  of  all  His  imitable  excellen- 
cies. Each  human  being  might  have  been,  as  it  were, 
a  separate,  flawless  crystal,  distinct,  and  yet  perfect 
in  its  kind.  The  whole  race  might  have  been  one  in 
its  service,  one  in  its  historical  progress.  When 
viewed  from  eternity,  it  might  have  been  a  perfect 
and  compact  body,  a  living  organism,  in  which  every 
joint  and  member,  every  race,  and  tribe,  and  family, 
contributed  to  the  fulness  and  warmth  of  life.  How 
deep  a  gulf  is  there  between  this  divine  ideal  and 
the  reality !  How  many  flaws  and  rents  in  each 
individual !  How  many  retrogressions  in  the  his- 
tory of  progress  !  How  many  terrible  breaks  in  the 
unity  and  love  which  ought  to  bind  man  to  man ! 


194  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

We  see  also  how  the  Fall  of  man,  which  some  thinkers 
have  almost  divinised  as  the  first  giant  step  of  pro- 
gress ^'^,  so  far  from  contributing  to  our  civilization, 
deadens  and  weakens  the  whole  after-life  of  the  race. 

"Who  has  not  felt  the  depressing,  devilish  influence 
of  an  atmosphere  of  sin ;  the  taint  contracted  from 
a  bad  man,  or  a  bad  book ;  the  unspeakable,  hideous 
fascination  of  a  wicked  thought?  Contrast  this 
broken,  ruined  condition  of  single  persons,  and  of 
the  race,  with  the  design  of  God's  love  for  its  per- 
fection, and  then,  if  you  can,  associate  it  with 
progress. 

Yet  of  all  this  perfection  which  lay,  and  still  in 
great  part  lies  before  him,  man  has  deprived  His 
Creator  by  his  sin  and  disobedience.  As  St.Anselm 
well  says :  "  Abstulit  Deo  quidquid  de  humana  na- 
tura  facere  proposuerat"  {Cur  Dens  Homo.,  i.  23). 
Sin  thus  acquires  an  ideal  character:  it  ceases  to 
be  a  collection  of  single  acts  of  offence ;  it  becomes 
a  malignant  spiritual  force,  fighting  everywhere 
against  God.  The  reconciliation  of  this  sin,  then, 
is  no  slight  and  simple  problem.  It  is  a  great 
occasion.  It  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  passing  over 
a  slip  here,  and  a  fault  there ;  but  the  whole  relation 
of  God  to  man  is  involved  in  it.  Is  the  reconciliation 
to  be  one  in  which  His  nature  shall  appear  in  its 

^®  E.g.  Schiller  and  Hegel,  quoted  with  approbation  by  Pflei- 
derer,  Religions  Philosophie,  ^.bQ5,  (Berlin,  1878).  The  mistake 
seems  to  arise  from  the  confusion  of  that  external  knowledge  of 
evil,  as  a  foe  to  be  combated,  which  man  was  obviously  intended 
to  have,  with  the  interior,  sinful,  sympathetic  knowledge  of  it, 
which  was  the  consequence  of  the  Fall.  The  former  is  necessary 
to  progress ;  the  latter  hinders  it. 


VI.]  Sin  not  to  he  lighthj  dealt  with.  195 

fulness  and  its  strength,  in  the  plenitude  of  its  mys- 
terious energy ;  or  is  it  to  be  displayed  as  a  weak 
and  barren  proclamation  of  forgiveness  ?  The  whole 
idea  we  are  to  form  of  God  is  involved  in  the  answer 
to  this  question.  And  we  may  make  bold  to  reply, 
that  a  simple  proclamation  of  release  would  have 
been  at  least  as  inadequate  a  satisfaction  of  our 
thought  of  Him  as  the  highest  excellence,  as  would 
be  the  release  of  prisoners  at  the  beginning  of  a 
reign,  or  a  general  remission  of  taxes  to  an  empire, 
if  put  forward  as  an  act  of  the  highest  political  wis- 
dom in  an  earthly  sovereign. 

For  the  vague  benevolence  remitting  to  man  the 
punishment  of  sin,  because,  through  his  own  fault, 
he  was  unable  to  pay  his  debt  of  love  to  God ;  and 
the  gift  to  him  of  happiness,  from  which  he  had 
broken  away,  without  the  fulfilment  of  any  of  the 
previous  conditions  on  man's  part,  would  be  a  kind  of 
mercy  unworthy  of  God.  Here,  again,  listen  to 
St.  Anselm  """^  :  "  If  God  remits  what  man  ought,  of 
his  own  accord,  to  pay,  merely  because  man  is  in- 
capable of  payment,  what  is  this,  except  to  say  that 
God  remits  what  He  is  unable  to  recover?"  that  He 
acts  like  a  man,  who  yields  to  the  inevitable,  and 
gives  up  a  debt  which  He  finds  it  impossible  to  make 
good.  "  It  is  ridiculous,"  says  St.  Anselm,  "  to  attri- 
bute mercy  of  such  a  kind  to  God."  And  again  :  "  If 
God  remits  the  punishment  which  He  was  going  to 

"  "Si  dimittit  quod  sponto  reddere  debet  homo,  ideo  quia  red- 
dcre  nou  potest,  quid  est  aliud  quam  dimittit  Deus  quod  habere 
non  potest  ?  Sed  derisio  est  ut  talis  niisericordia  Deo  attribuatur." 
(L.c.  i.  24.) 

0  2 


196  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

inflict,  namely,  the  deprivation  of  happiness,  and 
remits  it  on  account  of  man's  inability  to  pay  his 
debt,  this  is  really  to  act  unjustly,  and  to  make  man 
happy  on  account  of  sin,  that  is,  because  he  has  an 
incapacity,  which  is  his  own  fault  ^^" 

Both  the  remission  of  sin  and  the  gift  of  happiness, 
on  these  terms,  would  appear  to  be  the  acts  of  a  God 
who  confessed  Himself  worsted  by  His  creature; 
who  began  with  a  great  design,  but  was  not  able  to 
accomplish  it ;  who  wished  for  innocence  and  justice, 
but  was  compelled  by  force  of  circumstances  to  be 
content  with  guilt  and  injustice ;  who  wished  to 
bless  a  creature  and  a  race  of  beings  made  after  His 
own  image,  but  was  forced,  in  deftmlt  of  them,  to 
crown  with  eternal  happiness  a  corrupt  and  crooked 
mass  of  half- dead  and  deformed  creatures  ^^. 

^®  "At  si  dimittit  quod  invito  erat  ablaturus  [sc.  beatitudinem] 
propter  impotentiam  reddendi  quod  sponte  reddere  debet,  relaxat 
Deus  pcenam  et  facit  beatum  hominem  propter  peccatum,  quia 
habet  quod  debet  non  habere  "  .  .  .  "  verum  huiusmodi  misericordia 
Dei  nimis  est  contraria  justitiae  illius,  quae  non  nisi  poenam  per- 
mittit  reddi  propter  peccatum."     (L.c.  i.  24.) 

^^  Cp.  Mr.  T.  T.  Carter,  Instructions  on  the  Divine  Revelation, 
pp.  151,  152.  *'  The  conception  both  of  the  holiness  and  the  truth 
of  God  would  suffer,  if  sin  could  pass  unpunished,  and  be  forgiven, 
without  the  exaction  of  any  penalties,  and  by  a  simple  exertion  of 
remedial  power.  There  could,  in  such  case,  be  no  security  for  law, 
no  trust  in  eternal  righteousness,  no  consistency  between  the  cha- 
racter of  God  and  the  government  of  His  creatures.  But  in  sur- 
rendering His  only  Son  to  the  death  of  the  Cross,  Almighty  God 
shewed,  by  an  irrefragable  testimony,  that  the  judgments  which 
guard  the  laws  of  His  kingdom  cannot  be  withdrawn,  notwith- 
standing His  decrees  of  mercy  to  free  the  sinner  from  the  con- 
sequences of  the  Pall." 


YI.]        The  Innocent  Buffering  for  the  Guilty .         197 

3.   The  Atonement  and  Godh  Justice. 

We  now  pass  to  the  opposite  objection,  viz.  that 
it  is  unjust  to  accept  the  punishment  of  the  innocent 
Saviour  for  the  guilty  race ;  that  man  does  not  really 
pay  the  debt,  if  it  is  paid  for  him.  I  need  not  dwell 
long  upon  this  point  in  the  presence  of  those  who 
are  familiar  with  what  has  been  so  well  said  upon 
it  by  Bp.  Butler  and  Dr.  Mozley.  The  former,  as  you 
will  remember,  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in 
the  course  of  nature  the  innocent  frequently  suffer 
for  the  guilty;  and  therefore,  if  there  is  any  force 
in  the  objection,  it  applies  equally  to  the  whole 
method  of  Divine  Providence  ^°. 

It  constantly  happens  that  men  bear,  and  have  to 
bear,  labour,  and  injury,  and  loss  for  others  with 
whom  they  are  connected  by  family  or  social  ties. 
The  loss  of  one  is  the  gain  of  another  in  a  thousand 
ways.  Yet  we  are  not  shocked  by  this.  It  is  part 
of  what  we  are  accustomed  to  see  and  speak  of  as 
natural.  Even  when  it  takes  the  extreme  form  of 
a  dread  calamity  falling  upon  one  generation  of  a 
people,  as  the  result  of  a  great  war,  we  regret  the 
misery  that  occurs,  but  we  do  not  accuse  Providence 
of  injustice ;  unless,  perhaps,  we  happen  to  be  among 
the  immediate  sufferers.  The  surrender  of  precious 
lives,  tearing  the  very  heart  out  of  a  thousand  homes, 
may  be  the  only  possible  way,  in  a  sinful  world  like 
ours,  of  fusing  the  sympathies  and  bracing  the  energies 
of  the  whole  nation,  and  of  bringing  it  to  a  conscious- 

^°  Analogy,  part  2,  chap.  v.  p.  254,  ed.  Bohn.  Cp.  Dr.Mozley'a 
Sermon  on  the  Atonement,  in  his  University  Sermons. 


198  The  Christian  Bevelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

ness  of  its  destiny.  Such  a  sacrifice  may  be  the 
turning-point  in  its  history,  for  which  age  after  age 
has  waited ;  and  now  that  it  has  come,  the  whole 
after-life  will  have  a  vigour  till  then  unknown.  Yet 
those  who  profit  by  the  sacrifice  will  not  have  paid 
it  in  person;  they  will  only  unite  with  it  in  sym- 
pathy. Thus  the  self-denying  struggles  of  the  Athe- 
nians in  the  great  Persian  war  were  the  necessary 
prelude  to  the  age  of  Pericles.  So,  again,  we  at 
this  day  benefit  wonderfully  by  the  sacrifices  made 
by  our  fathers  in  their  resistance  to  Napoleon,  and 
in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  the  like.  But  few 
ever  think  it  unjust  in  the  Creator  to  have  so  or- 
dered it. 

Yet  if  we  compare  such  human  cases  with  the 
Atonement,  we  shall  see  that  the  plea  of  injustice 
is  really  more  plausible  with  regard  to  the  ordinary 
suff'ering  of  man  for  man.  Human  suffering  is  rarely 
quite  voluntary.  When  a  father  or  mother  is  made 
miserable  by  the  extravagance  or  dissipation  of  their 
son,  or  a  physician  dies  from  a  disease  he  has  caught 
in  attending  the  sick,  or  half  an  army  perishes  while 
the  other  half  enjoys  the  victory, — we  know  that  the 
sufferers  would  in  most  cases  have  chosen,  if  pos- 
sible, not  to  suffer.  But  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was 
self- chosen  and  voluntary,  contemplated  from  the 
beginning  of  His  ministry,  though  His  complete 
humanity  was  shewn  in  the  agony  and  heart-broken 
bitterness  through  which  He  passed  in  completing 
the  great  act  of  love.  Such  vicarious  offerings  as 
these  have  always  been  held  not  only  perfectly  legi- 
timate, but  most  satisfactory  to  the  natural  conscience 


VI.]       Chrisf s  willing  Sacrifice  and  Mediation.        199 

of  right  and  wrong.  Even  in  the  mythical  or  semi- 
mythical  shape  of  a  Chiron,  an  Alcestis,  or  a  Codrus, 
a  Quintus  Curtius,  a  Eegulus,  or  a  Decius,  they  have 
a  strong  hold  upon  our  feelings.  We  should  revolt 
and  feel  injustice  done  if  they  were  not  successfal. 

We  can  even  understand  the  anxious  superstition 
of  the  heathen,  which  required  a  semblance  of  wil- 
lingness in  the  animals  they  sacrificed,  and  thought 
a  victim  without  a  heart  a  disastrous  portent.  We 
assume  it  to  be  a  law  of  God's  ordinance  that  media- 
tion and  intercession  have  a  value,  that  faithful  ef- 
fort and  self-denial  for  others  must  meet  with  its 
reward.  Hence,  when  we  think  that  He  who  suf- 
fered for  us  upon  the  cross  was  the  Son  of  God, 
**  the  first-born  of  every  creature,"  and  our  future 
Judge,  we  feel  that  the  purchase  of  remission  of  sins 
and  potential  happiness  for  all  mankind  is  but  a  just 
return  and  reward.  That  such  an  act  should  not 
gain  its  end  would  surely  fill  us  with  a  sense  of 
injustice,  terror,  and  despair  ^^ 

If  the  doctrine,  indeed,  ended  here,  it  would  be 
incomplete.  If  Christ  suffered,  and  we  merely  reaped 
the  benefit,  as  some  Christians  are  too  lightly  and 
lazily  inclined  to  think  is  the  case,  the  enemy 
might  indeed  find  something  to  censure.  But  I  need 
not  remind  any  here,  that  though  a  certain  degree 
of  present  benefit  is  felt  by  all  men,  whether  they 
have  heard  the  name  of  Christ  or  not,  owing  to  the 
greater    diff'used   happiness   which   Christianity   has 

2^  Cp.  some  eloquent  pages  of  Mr.  R.  W.  Dale's  Lectures  on 
The  Atonement^  at  the  end  of  Lect.  ix.,  in  reply  to  Mr,  Murtineau, 
Studies  of  Christianity,  p,  188. 


200  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.      [Lect. 

brought  into  the  world,  yet  the  mystical  death  to 
sin  with  Christ,  and  the  rising  again  to  righteous- 
ness, is  the  only  revealed  condition  of  our  final  sal- 
vation. We  are  saved  by  faith ;  we  are  judged 
according  to  our  works.  The  redemption  effected 
by  Christ  does  not  dispense  with  a  change  of  mind 
in  the  sinners  who  are  redeemed.  It  alters  the  re- 
gard with  which  God  looks  at  men;  and  now  He 
accepts  our  repentance,  and  all  the  blessed  fruits 
of  a  holy  and  peaceful  life  that  follow  it. 

This  is  the  Gospel  message.  How  God  will  deal 
with  those  who  do  not  hear  it  or  understand  it  in 
this  world,  we  know  not;  but  that  Christ  died  for 
all  men,  and  that  those  who  are  saved  will  be  saved 
by  faith  in  Christ,  here  or  hereafter,  of  this  we 
are  sure. 

This  thought  of  the  practical  correlations  to  the 
idea  of  the  Divine  mercy,  naturally  leads  us  on  to 
the  second  part  of  our  argument. 

II. 

We  now  turn  to  the  blessed  effects  which  this  doc- 
trine has,  as  a  revelation  meet  for  human  needs. 

I.  Consider  the  great  value  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  and  Atonement,  as  a  revelation  of  the 
guilt  and  danger  of  sin. 

An  age  like  the  present,  which  dislikes  the  name 
of  sin,  which  is  conscious  of  many  good  impulses, 
and  rests  leisurely  upon  an  external  and  conven- 
tional morality,  is  not  likely,  perhaps,  to  view  this 
proposition  with  favour.  Yet,  even  if  we  take  the 
men  of  our  time   at  their   own  valuation,   and  ap- 


VI.]  The  Guilt  and  Danger  of  Sin.  201 

proach  them  upon  their  own  principles  of  historic 
candour,  they  cannot  fail  to  see  at  least  something 
in  our  statement.  "  Your  excellent  impulses  are  not 
your  own,  but  are  inherited  from  the  past,"  so  we 
may  reason  with  them;  "and  the  sweet  social  quiet- 
ness on  which  you  repose,  could  not  have  existed 
without  that  idea  of  a  death  to  sin  and  a  new  birth 
to  righteousness,  which  we  can  shew  historically  to 
have  come  into  the  world  with  belief  in  the  Incarna- 
tion, Death,  and  Resurrection  of  the  Saviour."  Even 
now,  when  by  a  natural  reaction  from  puritanism, 
sad  and  painful  thoughts  are  being  driven  by  many 
first  from  daily  life  and  then  from  religion,  it  ought 
not  to  be  difficult  for  any,  even  of  the  most  frivolous, 
to  see  the  enormous  practical  gain  of  the  reinforce- 
ment of  the  law  of  duty  by  the  Life  and  Passion  of 
Christ.  "What  the  Law  could  not  do,"  writes  St. 
Paul,  "  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God, 
sending  His  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh, 
and  for  sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh :  that  the 
righteousness  of  the  Law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us, 
who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit " 
(Romans  viii.  3,  4).  The  clear  condemnation  of  sin 
in  actual  visible  fact  in  the  flesh  of  Christ,  is  a  lever 
of  enormous  power,  possessed  by  no  other  religion, 
and  one  which  has  been  wielded  with  vast  success 
by  Christian  moralists. 

But  if  this  will  be  confessed  by  those  who  stand 
apart  from  positive  belief,  how  much  more  is  it  felt 
by  us  Christians,  who  realize  something  of  what  the 
Saviour  meant  when  He  said,  "  The  Son  of  Man  is 
come  to   seek   and   to   save   that  which  was  lost" 


202  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

(Luke  six.  10).  We  know  that  the  first  step  ia 
deliverance,  both  for  ourselves  and  for  those  whom, 
after  our  Saviour's  example,  we  love  and  fain  would 
save,  is  only  found  by  genuine  personal  acknowledg- 
ment of  sin  and  of  the  horrors  which  attend  a  sepa- 
ration from  God.  ''The  incarnation  shews  to  man 
the  greatness  of  his  misery,  by  the  greatness  of  the 
remedy  which  was  required  to  heal  it  ^\"  It  is  like 
a  light  let  down  into  a  dismal  and  narrow  pit,  re- 
vealing its  hideousness,  and  so  stirring  those  who 
dwell  there  to  desire  their  escape.  It  shews  also 
how  impossible  escape  is  by  our  own  unaided  efforts. 
When  our  eyes  are  opened  by  Christ,  we  see  that 
heaven  is  so  far  away.  We  may  climb  laboriously 
upwards  from  rock  to  rock,  and  from  ledge  to  ledge, 
along  the  sides  of  our  prison-house,  but  we  shall  not 
be  appreciably  nearer  the  stars  above  us,  where  we 
know  that  our  true  home  lies  ^^.  Only  by  the  coming 
down  of  Christ  among  us,  and  taking  us  by  the 
hand,  can  we  be  truly  lifted  up. 

The  horror  of  separation  from  God  is  certainly  not 
the  highest  motive,  but  it  is  practically  inseparable, 
in  almost  all  cases,  from  the  love  of  God.  The  two 
are  brought  to  our  knowledge  at  once  by  Christ,  and 
he  must  be  but  a  lukewarm  Christian  who  does  not 
thank  Him  for  this  help  to  holiness.  The  place  of 
punishment,  the  outer  darkness  and  eternal  night, 
were  not  indeed  made  for  man,  but  for  spiritual 
beings  of  a  darker  and  deadlier  criminality  than 
ours^^;   but  they  will  be  the  destiny  of  impenitent 

"  Pascal,  Pe7isees,  part  2,  art.  5,  §  8,  p.  184.  ="  Cp.  Tholuck, 
Guido  and  Julius,  E.  T.,  p.  172.  ^^  St.  Matthew  xxv.  41. 


VI.]  Horror  of  Separation  from  God.  203 

sinners  2^  Men  knew  not  this,  or  only  knew  it  in 
myths  and  legends,  which  they  were  too  ready  to 
disbelieve  and  discredit  as  children's  fables,  that 
they  might  sin  with  greater  freedom.  It  was  natu- 
ral, indeed,  that  God  should  not  reveal  the  full  ter- 
rors of  His  wrath,  and  the  severity  of  His  judgment, 
till  He  could  reveal  them  by  one  who  was  the  Sa- 
viour as  well  as  the  Judge.  But  when  the  fulness 
of  the  time  came.  He  sent  forth  Him  who  was  ''ac- 
quainted with  grief,"  as  none  of  created  beings  could 
be ;  Him  who  knew  the  secrets  and  depths  of  sin,  and 
the  origin  of  the  place  of  torment,  to  call  men  to 
repentance.  He  knew  the  perfection  of  love  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  and  He  knew  the  other  side 
too,  the  tremendous  fall  of  the  angels,  the  ruin  of 
men  which  followed,  the  grief  of  eternal  regret,  eter- 
nal remorse,  eternal  despair,  eternal  self-will  and 
rebellion.  He  knew  the  feeling  of  madness,  rage, 
confusion  and  shame,  which  make  the  bitter  cup 
mixed  for  the  ungodly.  Hence  it  is  that  Jesus  Christ 
our  Saviour,  who  is  the  Divine  Love  incarnate  and 
the  one  offering  for  sin,  is  also  for  our  salvation  the 
sternest,  because  the  calmest  and  most  clear-sighted, 
prophet  of  the  wrath  of  God. 

2.  Consider  the  blessing  which  we  possess  in 
Christ  as  the  true  representative  of  the  race. 

The  subject  of  redemption  is  the  whole  race,  not 
single  individuals.  The  one  religion  must  certainly 
proclaim  this.     We  instinctively  reject  the  ideas  of 

^^  On  our  Lord  as  the  revealer  of  future  punishment,  see  Bp. 
Milman's  Love  of  the  Atonement,  chap,  xii.,  headed  "A  Man  of 
sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief." 


204         The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

Gnostic  or  other  Dualists,  who  speak  of  a  special 
creation  of  spiritual  men,  in  whom  alone  God  is  in- 
terested; and  the  separate  selfishness  of  Buddhist 
and  other  ascetics,  who  are  bidden  to  wander  alone 
in  search  of  salvation,  each  for  themselves -^  The 
one  religion  takes  the  two  great  facts  of  the  unity 
of  the  race  and  of  the  universality  of  sin,  and  deals 
with  them  in  a  unique  and  consistent  manner,  un- 
known in  any  other  of  the  attempts  to  find  re- 
demption. 

The  problem  presented  by  these  two  facts  is  this  : 
How  can  the  whole  race  make  a  reparation  to  God, 
and  be  presented  to  Him  ?  It  cannot  obviously,  as 
the  world  is  now  constituted,  be  all  collected  in  one 
place,  and  be  presented  at  one  moment,  and  by  a  so- 
lemn act  of  penitence  offer  to  God  the  homage  of 
a  contrite  heart.  There  is,  indeed,  a  marvellous  force 
and  power  in  such  common  acts,  as  when  so  many 
thousand  turbaned  heads  are  bowed  to  the  ground 
at  one  instant  in  the  courtyard  of  the  mosque  at 
Delhi,  or  the  Pope  blesses  the  bending  multitude 
from  the  balcony  of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Eome. 
But  even  if  such  an  act  were  possible  for  all  the 
world,  the  momentary  enthusiasm  of  a  crowd  is  not 
the  highest  type  of  a  great  religious  action.  Chris- 
tianity has,  indeed,  this  enthusiasm  amongst  its 
powers,  but  it  has  something  better  and  more  last- 
ing, above  and  beyond  it.  This  is  found  in  the  prin- 
ciple of  Eepresentation,  which  is  a  principle  specially 

2«  Cp.  Sutta-Nipdta,  Sacred  Booh,  vol.  x.  part  2,  esp.  the 
KJiaggavisdnasuUa,  p.  6  foil.,  the  verses  of  which  end,  "let  him 
wander  alone  like  a  rhinoceros, "  and  the  Mtmisutta,  p.  33  foU. 


VI.]         Christ  the  Representative  of  the  Bace.         205 

bound  up  and  connected  with  tlie  two  greatest  of 
human  powers,  reason  and  faith.  Christ  Jesus  is 
our  representative,  who  being  one  stands  for  us  all, 
and  in  our  place  offers  to  God  that  reparation  which 
we  could  not  otherwise  find  a  means  of  paying. 

But  in  what  manner  is  He  our  representative? 
It  is  necessary  to  ask  this  question,  for  representa- 
tion is  obviously  of  two  kinds  :  firstly,  natural  and 
of  inherent  right ;  and  secondly,  positive,  and  resting 
generally  upon  some  kind  of  compact. 

A  representative  of  the  first  kind  is,  for  instance, 
a  father  acting  for  his  children,  a  king  for  his  people, 
a  priest  for  his  congregation.  The  second  is  the  of- 
fice of  a  deputy  or  delegate,  elected  under  certain 
conditions  by  the  votes  of  his  constituents.  This 
latter  sort  of  delegation  is  very  familiar  to  us  in 
this  country ;  but  even  in  our  political  life  we  readily 
perceive  that  it  is  not  a  complete  form  of  representa- 
tion. A  mere  delegate,  who  simply  acts  as  a  mouth- 
piece, and  re-echoes  the  sentiments  of  those  who  send 
him,  is  not  considered  a  political  success.  Every 
good  representative  of  the  second  class  must  have 
some  of  those  moral  and  spiritual  qualities  which 
ought  to  dignify  one  who  belongs  to  the'  first  class. 

This  is  specially  the  case  when  the  matter  in  whicli 
we  are  to  be  represented  lies  near  our  heart,  and 
concerns  our  deepest  interests.  Then  we  feel  that 
only  he  who  is  truly  worthy  can  really  act  for  us. 
But  when  he  does  appear  to  act  for  us,  then  we  are 
satisfied.  "We  transfer  to  him  our  own  impulses,  and 
feel  that  they  add  force  to  his  actions.  We  cannot 
account  for  the  feeling,  or  understand  the  method  of 


206         The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

the  transfer.  But  we  linow  that  the  world  is  God's 
world.  And  just  as  we  offer  our  prayers  to  Him  in 
faith,  without  the  least  understanding  how  they  can 
prevail,  so  we  give  our  secret  suffrages  to  that  man 
who  defends  the  cause  we  approve,  and  are  assured 
that  God  will  reckon  our  sympathies  amongst  the 
moral  forces  that  He  permits  to  co-operate  with  His 
Providence. 

It  has  been  well  said,  that  "the  disposition  to  look 
for  such  a  type  or  pattern,  in  which  may  be  properly 
expressed  what  each  man's  consciousness  imperfectly 
witnesses,  lies  deep  in  human  nature^''."  It  ex- 
presses itself  in  our  admiration  for  national  heroes, 
or  for  leaders  in  any  department  of  thought  or  feel- 
ing. Such  men  have  fought  for  us,  pleaded  for  us, 
reasoned  for  us,  hoped  and  loved  for  us,  fixed  the 
hues  of  the  sunset,  or  the  tones  of  unutterable  pas- 
sion,— all  without  any  delegation  of  ours, — by  their 
inherent  natural  right  as  princes  and  prelates  of  God's 
world.  In  them  myriads,  who  for  themselves  could 
never  have  found  a  tongue,  have  made  themselves 
heard  and  listened  to.  Yet  these  representative  he- 
roes took  the  office  upon  themselves,  as  God  gave 
them  a  work  to  do  and  a  power  to  do  it.  They 
acted  most  probably  under  the  pressure  of  uncon- 
scious impulse,  without  thinking  of  the  far-reaching 
efiPect  of  what  they  were  doing;  but  in  them  we 
recognize  fathers  and  brothers,  who  have  vindicated 
for  us  a  position  which  for  ourselves  we  could  never 
have  attained. 

^  Eobert  Isaac  Wilberforce,  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  p.  7, 
new  edition  (London,  1875), 


VI.]         Natural  desire  for  a  Representative.  207 

Reflections  like  these  on  the  ideal  of  representation 
current  in  the  world,  give  certain  faint  indications 
of  what  we  might  naturally  look  for  in  the  person 
of  an  universal  Eedeemer.  We  should  look  for  one 
of  common  nature,  joined  to  us  by  all  the  sympathies 
of  human  kinship  and  human  suffering,  and  there- 
fore not  an  angel  or  spirit,  but  a  man  like  ourselves. 
Yet,  inasmuch  as  He  is  a  Redeemer  from  sin,  He 
must  differ  from  us  in  this  one  point, — He  must  in 
His  sinlessness  represent,  not  the  actual  depravity 
of  mankind,  but  the  ideal  purity  which  we  feel  is 
the  design  and  original  state  of  man.  He  comes 
to  restore  the  community  and  freedom  of  inter- 
course betwixt  God  and  man,  which  has  been  broken 
by  sin,  and  to  do  this  He  must,  as  it  were,  make 
a  fresh  departure.  He  must  be  man,  we  feel,  but 
a  new  man. 

It  follows  also,  from  what  has  been  already  said, 
that  He  will  be,  in  some  true  sense  of  the  term, 
a  Father,  a  King,  a  Priest,  blessed  and  blessing 
others,  summing  up  in  Himself  all  the  most  gracious 
relations  of  humanity.  Yet  His  unique  relation  to 
sin  cannot  but  cast  a  gloom  over  His  life,  and  all 
experience  shews  that  He  will  not  be  hdppy,  as  men 
usually  count  happiness. 

Such,  in  fact,  is  the  forecast  of  Messianic  prophecy, 
of  which  our  text  is  an  example,  which  alone  has 
built  up  the  fabric  of  a  true  portraiture  of  the  Sa- 
viour of  the  world.  But  fragments  of  it  appear  here 
and  there  in  different  ages  and  countries.  Myths 
of  the  return  of  a  golden  age  are  not  unfrequent, 
though  difficult  in  many  cases  to  disentangle  from 


208  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

the  hopes  diffused  by  Jewish  prophecy  or  Christian 
fulfilment.  Thus  the  Parsis  have  a  considerably  de- 
tailed prophecy  of  the  restoration  of  true  religion 
under  a  priest  called  Peshyotanu,  and  others  ^^.  The 
Mexicans  expected  the  return  of  their  gentle  king, 
who  had  forbidden  human  sacrifices  ^^.  The  old  Ger- 
mans believed  that  after  the  destruction  of  the  gods, 
Yidar,  son  of  Odin,  would  arise  to  avenge  his  father ; 
while  Balder  would  return  from  the  dead,  and  all 
things  bright  would  revive  ^°.  Again,  all  here  will 
think  instinctively  of  Virgil's  Pollio^  and  of  the  child 
who  was  to  be  born  as  a  blessing  to  the  world,  with 
whom  Justice  and  Peace  were  to  come  back,  and  in 
whom  a  new  creation,  as  it  were,  was  to  take  its 
rise  : — 

'*  A  mighty  line  of  ages  springs  anew ; 

The  Maid  returns  and  Saturn's  golden  prime ; 
From  heaven  on  high  a  new-born  race  descends  2^" 

We  know,  indeed,  that  the  oracles  of  the  Cu- 
msean  sibyl,  from  which  Virgil  professes  to  draw  his 

^^  Bahman  Yast,  chap,  iii,  24  foil.  Sacred  Booh,  vol.  v.  (Pahlavi 
Texts),  pp.  224—235. 

^^  Quetzalcoatl :  see  H.  Bancroft,  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific 
States,  vol.  iii,  260,  444.  Cortes  was  at  first  taken  for  him,  and 
a  human  sacrifice  was  offered  to  him,  notwithstanding  the  tradi- 
tional character  of  the  God,  t'hid.,  p.  276. 

^°  VafthrHdnismdl,  51,  53;  Grimnismdl,  17;  Voluspd,  57  foil. 
I  do  not  quote  the  myth  of  the  Hindu  avatar  Kalki,  which  is 
probably  to  some  extent  traceable  to  a  Christian  source.  See 
Hardwick,  p.  231. 

'^  "  Magnus  ab  integro  sa3clorum  nascitur  ordo  : 
Jam  redit  et  Virgo,  redeunt  Saturnia  regna ; 
Jam  nova  progenies  ca3lo  demittitur  alto." — JEcl.  iv. 
The  "  Virgo  "  is  Astrsea,  or  Justice  :  see  above,  Lect.  y.  p.  148. 


VI.]  Fragments  of  the  Messianic  Idea,  209 

inspiration,  were  very  possibly  indebted  for  their  besV 
thoughts  to  a  Jewish  hand,  yet  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  he  here  represents  a  genuine  expectation  of  hea- 
thenism, however  arrived  at. 

This  is  one  side  of  the  picture,  that  of  the  blessed 
King  and  Conqueror ;  on  the  other,  we  have  much 
fainter  and  rarer  indications  of  Him  who  was  "  de- 
spised and  rejected  of  men."  In  the  Grseco-Roman 
world  Plato  stands,  perhaps,  alone  with  his  vision 
of  the  perfectly  just  man,  who  is  and  does  not  seem 
to  be  so ;  who  is  the  best,  and  is  esteemed  the  worst ; 
and  at  the  end  is  put  to  death  with  all  kinds  of  tor- 
tures ^^.  This  wonderful  gleam  of  truth  is  matched 
only,  as  far  as  I  know,  by  that  of  the  Chinese  Lao-tse, 
the  elder  contemporary  and  critic  of  Confucius ;  ex- 
pressed, however,  in  the  obscure  and  artificial  lan- 
guage of  his  school : — 

"  He  who  knows  the  light,  and  at  the  same  time  keeps 
the  shade,  will  be  the  whole  world's  model.  Being  the 
whole  world's  model,  eternal  virtue  will  not  miss  him,  and 
he  will  return  home  to  the  Absolute.  He  who  knows  the 
glory,  and  at  the  same  time  keeps  to  shame,  will  be  the 
whole  world's  valley.  Being  the  whole  world's  valley, 
eternal  virtue  will  fill  him,  and  he  will  return  home  to 
Taou^\" 

But  such  beautiful  thoughts,  whether  of  poets  or 
philosophers,  whether  sung  by  the  people  or  debated 

^^  Plato,  Bepublic,  book  ii.  p.  361.  Cp.  Luthardt,  Fundamental 
Truths  of  Christianity,  E.  T.,  ed.  3,  p.  243  and  note. 

^^  Taou-tih-King,  chap.  28  ;  quoted  by  E.  K.  Douglas,  Confu- 
cianism and  Taouism,  p.  195.  Cp.  Dr.  Legge's  Beligions  of  China, 
pp.220  foil.,  on  his  teaching  about  humility;  and  Hardwick, 
p.  316. 

P 


210  The  Christian  Bev elation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

in  the  schools,  have  not  power  by  themselves  to  sa- 
tisfy the  race  of  mankind,  or  to  give  it  any  true  sense 
of  unity  before  God.  Those  who  hold  them  for  a  few 
moments  seem  to  lose  them  again  almost  at  once,  and 
vainly  snatch  at  them  like  a  mocking  web  of  gossa- 
mer thrown  across  their  path  some  dewy  morning. 
The  same  Virgil  who  sang  so  wondrously  of  the 
blessed  Child,  joined  in  the  idolatrous  adulation  paid 
to  the  selfish  and  politic  Augustus.  A  few  years 
later  the  master  of  the  Eoman  world,  the  crazy  Em- 
peror Gains  or  Caligula,  decreed  universal  worship 
to  himself ;  and  some  generations  afterwards,  Hadrian 
ordered  his  subjects  to  worship  his  dead  favourite, 
Antinous.  Into  such  miserable  profanity  did  hea- 
then worship  plunge  in  its  most  enlightened  ages  ; 
while,  if  we  turn  to  other  countries,  we  find,  if  pos- 
sible, even  lower  developments  of  the  belief  in  in- 
carnations, from  which  so  much  might  have  been 
hoped. 

"  One  of  the  worst  things  in  modern  India  (writes  Bishop 
Caldwell)  is  the  sensual  worship  of  Krishna,  as  practised  by 
some  of  the  more  enthusiastic  sects  ;  and  this  seems  to  run  in 
parallel  lines  with  one  of  the  highest  developments  of  Chris- 
tian piety — the  personal  love  of  the  devout  soul  to  the  Di- 
vine Saviour  of  men.  That  which  appeared  to  be  most 
truly  divine  in  its  original  shape  has  become  earthly,  sen- 
sual, if  not  altogether  devilish,  by  contact  with  impure 
minds.     Corruptions  of  the  best  things  are  the  worst  ^^." 

But  even  if  we  take  human  ideals  at  their  best, 
not  at  their  worst,  we  may  be  thankful  that  we  are 

^*  Bp.  Caldwell,  Christianity  and  Hinduism:  a  Lecture  ad- 
dressed to  educated  Hindus  (S.P.C.K.),  pp.  7,  8 — a  very  valuable 
paper. 


VI.]  Defect  of  Human  Ideals.  211 

not  left  to  ourselves  to  frame  the  pattern  of  tlie  God- 
man.  Observing  what  virtues  are  chiefly  valued 
by  mankind,  apart  from  the  exceptional  and  transient 
thoughts  of  one  or  two  philosophers,  we  can  easily 
picture  the  Christ  who  would  have  been  created  by 
human  imagination.  In  the  first  place,  He  would  have 
been  many,  and  not  one.  To  the  Oriental  mind 
generally,  He  would  have  been  the  embodiment  of 
gigantic  force ;  to  the  Persian,  perhaps,  of  truthfulness 
and  labour:  to  the  Chinese,  of  regularity  and  duti- 
fulness ;  to  the  Greek,  of  beauty  and  intelligence ; 
to  the  Eoman,  of  imperial  majesty ;  to  the  Teuton, 
of  calmness  and  thoughtfulness.  Other  races  would 
have  had  other  noble  thoughts  of  like  sort.  Each 
nation  would  have  endowed  Him  with  the  best  quali- 
ties of  its  own  character,  omitting  the  rest.  But  the 
supreme  virtues  of  holiness  and  humility  would  have 
been,  to  all  appearances,  omitted  by  all. 

It  needed  the  actual  appearance  of  Christ  in  the 
flesh  to  give  unity  and  reality  to  these  ideals,  and  to 
give  them  those  qualities  which  they  all  lacked.  It 
needed  the  mauger  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  village 
seclusion  of  Nazareth,  and  the  little  success  of  His 
ministry  in  Judsea  and  Galilee,  and  the  rejection  by 
His  own  people,  and  the  mocking  of  Pilate's  judgment- 
hall,  and  the  marring  of  His  visage  upon  the  cross, 
and  the  whole  life,  in  its  outer  seeming,  capable 
of  despite  and  disregard.  All  this  was  needed  to 
fulfil  God's  design  in  turning  men  forcibly  back  from 
belief  in  power,  and  glory,  and  might,  and  even  duty, 
and  labour,  and  truthfulness,  to  belief  in  simple  good- 
ness as  the  ideal  of  man's  offering  to  God.  Holiness 
p  2 


212  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.      [Lect. 

and  humility  are  the  foundation  of  the  Christian  cha- 
racter, and  of  all  that  is  best  in  modern  life.  Holiness 
and  humility  shine  out  from  every  page  of  the  New 
Testament ;  but  the  world  would  have  never  known 
and  loved  them,  had  they  not  been  visibly  set  forth 
in  Christ.  It  is  something  that  the  world,  to  some 
extent,  does  love  them,  and  has  acknowledged  itself 
conquered  by  the  cross. 

There  are  many,  alas !  who  do  not  recognize  Christ 
as  their  representative ;  and  yet  how  striking  are  the 
testimonies  to  Him  which  have  been  uttered  by  men 
who  could  not  accept  the  Church's  creed !  We  have 
already  mentioned  the  witness  of  Mahomet.  The 
witness  of  Spinoza  is  no  less  remarkable  : — 

"  I  believe  (he  writes)  that  no  other  attained  to  such  per- 
fection (as  Moses  did)  above  the  rest  of  mankind,  except 
Christ,  to  whom  the  decrees  of  God,  which  lead  men  to  sal- 
vation, were  revealed  not  by  words  and  visions,  but  imme- 
diately ;  so  that  God  manifested  Himself  to  the  Apostles  by 
the  mind  of  Christ,  as  He  did  of  old  to  Moses  by  the  media- 
tion of  an  aerial  voice.  And  so  the  voice  of  Christ,  like 
that  which  Moses  used  to  hear,  may  be  called  the  voice  of 
God.  And  in  this  sense  we  may  even  say,  that  the  wisdom 
of  God,  that  is,  the  wisdom  which  is  above  human  wisdom, 
assumed  human  nature  in  Christ,  and  that  Christ  was  the 
way  of  salvation  ^^." 

^'  Spinoza,  Tractatus  Theologico-Politiciis,  cap.  i.  §  23: — "  Quare 
non  credo  ullum  alium  ad  tantam  perfectionem  supra  alios  perve- 
nisse  praeter  Christum,  cui  Dei  placita,  quae  homines  ad  saluteni 
ducunt,  sine  verbis  aut  visionibus  sed  immediate  revelata  sunt  ; 
adeo  ut  Deus  per  mentem  Christi  sese  Apostolis  manifestaverit,  ut 
dim  Mosi  mediante  voce  aerea.  Et  ideo  vox  Christi,  sicuti  ilia, 
quam  Moses  audiebat,  vox  Dei  vocari  potest,  Et  hoc  sensu  etiam 
dicere  possumus,  sapientiam  Dei,  hoc  est  sapientiam  quae  supra 
humanam  est,  naturam  humanam  in  Christo  assumpsisse  et  Chris- 
tum viam  salutis  fuisse." 


VI.]       Testimonies  of  non- Christian  Teachers.         213 

Eousseau's  sayings  concerning  Christ  and  Socrates 
have  often  been  quoted  : — 

"What  prejudices,  what  blindness  must  not  a  man  have 
to  dare  to  compare  the  son  of  Sophroniscus  with  the  son  of 
Mary  ?  What  a  distance  is  there  between  them  !"..."  If 
the  life  and  the  death  of  Socrates  are  those  of  a  sage,  the  life 
and  the  death  of  Jesus  are  those  of  a  God  ^^." 

It  is  not,  perhaps,  so  well-known  that  the  founder 
of  the  so-called  Positivist  religion  of  humanity  used 
daily  to  read  a  chapter  of  Thomas  a  Kempis,  "  On 
the  Imitation  of  Christ,"  and  strongly  recommended 
the  practice  to  his  followers,  who  still  pursue  it, 
though  in  a  different  spirit  to  that  of  Christian  de- 
Totion  ^'^. 

Lately,  too,  we  have  been  startled  by  a  voice  from 
India,  declaring  in  the  name  of  the  Theists  of  the 

2^  J,  J.  Eousseau,  ilmile,  book  iv.  {(Euvres  completes,  vol.  4, 
pp.240,  241,  Paris,  1824):  ''Quels  prejuges  quel  aveuglement 
ne  faut  il  point  avoir  pour  oser  comparer  le  fils  de  Sophronisque 
au  fils  de  Marie?  Quelle  distance  de  I'un  a  I'autre!"  .  .  .  "Qui,  si 
la  vie  et  la  mort  de  Socrate  sont  d'un  sage,  la  vie  et  la  mort  de 
Jesus  sont  d'lm  dieu."  These  words  are  attributed  to  the  "  Vi- 
caire  Savoyard." 

^^  A.  Comte,  System  of  Positive  Polity,  tr.  by  Congreve,  vol.  iv. 
p.  352  (London,  1877): — "The  conclusive  test  of  experience  in- 
duces me  to  recommend  above  all  the  daily  reading  of  the  sublime, 
if  incomplete,  effort  of  a  Kempis  and  the  incomparable  epic  of 
Dante.  More  than  seven  years  have  passed  [1854]  since  I  have 
read  each  morning  a  chapter  of  the  one,  each  evening  -a  canto  of 
the  other,  never  ceasing  to  find  beauties  previously  unseen,  never 
cea!«ing  to  reap  new  fruits  intellectual  or  moral." 

For  the  method  and  sense  in  which  Positivists  read  the  Imita- 
tion, see  R.  Congreve,  The  Religion  of  Humanity,  Annual  Address, 
p.  5  (C.  Kegau  Paul,  Lond.,  1879). 

The  absence  of  the  name  of  Christ  from  the  Positivist  Calendar 
may,  perhaps,  be  taken  as  an  unconscious  tribute  of  reverence. 


214  The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.     [Lect. 

Brahma- Samaj,  that  England,  which  has  done  much 
for  India,  has  given  nothing  so  valuable  as  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  : — 

"  It  is  Christ  who  rules  British  India,  and  not  the  British 
government.  England  has  sent  out  a  tremendous  moral 
force  in  the  life  and  character  of  that  mighty  prophet,  to 
conquer  and  hold  this  vast  empire.  None  but  Jesus,  none 
but  Jesus,  none  but  Jesus,  ever  deserved  this  bright,  this 
precious  diadem,  India,  and  Jesus  shall  have  it^®." 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  external  testimonies  to  our 
Saviour  as  the  ideal  man.  They  reinforce  our  own 
heartfelt  conviction  that  His  willing  self-sacrifice 
makes  Him  our  true  representative,  the  founder  of 
a  new  humanity.  Mahomet,  Spinoza,  Eousseau,  Comte, 
even  Chandar  Sen,  are  all  in  their  way  founders,  men 
who  have  set  large  movements  in  progress,  men  who 
have  had  great  ideals,  different  from  the  ideal  of  the 
Church.  But  all  of  them  have  recognized  a  higher 
ideal  in  the  person  of  Christ.  The  good,  the  beautiful 
Shepherd  ^^,  who  gives  His  life  for  the  sheep,  has 
attracted  to  Himself  others  besides  professing  Chris- 
tians, and  we  thank  them  for  their  honesty  in  speak- 
ing as  they  have  spoken  of  Him,  even  though  there 
is  a  something  wanting,  a  false  note,  even  in  their 
loudest  praise. 

But  to  us  He  is  more  than  an  object  of  admiration. 

^  Prom.  Keshab  Chandar  Sen's  Lecture,  India  ash,  Who  is 
Christ?  delivered  in  the  Town  Hall,  Calcutta,  April  9,  1879. 
This  and  other  passages  are  quoted  by  Prof.  M.  Williams,  Indian 
Theistic  Reformers,  (Poyal  Asiatic  Soc,  Jan.  1881). 

^^  6  TTo'ijxriv  6  KoXos,  S.  John  x.  11.  See  Dr.  Westcott's  note  on 
this  passage  (in  the  Speaker's  Commentary),  bringing  out  the  force 
of  ideal  beauty  and  attractiveness  implied  by  KoKoi.  ■ 


VI.]  The  Imitation  of  Christ.  215 

His  act  is  ours  by  faith.  His  death  upon  the  cross 
is  our  death  to  sin:  His  resurrection  our  new  birth 
to  repentance.  In  Him  we  are  brought  near  to  God 
in  a  way  which  is  indeed  mysterious,  but  which  is 
consonant  with  the  deepest  and  most  serious  reflec- 
tion that  we  can  make  upon  the  problems  of  human 
life.  "I  am  crucified  together  with  Christ,"  cries 
St.  Paul  (Gal.  ii.  20).  ''  But  it  is  no  longer  I  that 
live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me.  And  the  life  that 
I  now  live  in  the  flesh,  I  live  in  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself 
for  me." 

3.  Christ  the  Example  for  every  Man, 
Lastly,  I  would  direct  your  attention  to  the  great 
mercy  of  God  in  giving  each  of  us,  singly  and  sepa- 
rately, a  pattern  of  holiness  in  the  person  of  our  Ee- 
deemer.  As  we  began  this  Lecture  with  the  thought 
of  God  in  Christ,  walking  along  the  way  of  holiness, 
to  guide  the  infirm  and  simple,  so  let  us  end  it.  He 
is  to  us  not  only  the  great  sin-offering  in  whose  sacri- 
fice we  realize  the  true  proportions  and  the  misery 
of  that  sin  which  separates  us  from  God,  and  the 
second  Adam,  the  sinless  representative,  in  whom 
our  race  is  presented  anew  to  its  Creator,  but  He 
is  also  the  perfect  example  for  each  individual. 

There  is  certainly  a  fitness  in  this  union  of  offices 
in  Christ  which  we  cannot  but  acknowledge  with 
adoring  gratitude.  It  is  meet  that  He  who  repre- 
sents us  all,  should  be  the  pattern  for  each  to  imitate. 
But  it  is  a  wonderful  thing  that  it  is  so.  A  repre- 
sentative such  as  men  could  have  imagined  for  them- 


216     The  Christian  Revelation  of  Holiness.  [Lect.  VI. 

selves,  even  if  he  had  been  supremely  worthy  of  imi- 
tation (which  is  more  than  doubtful),  must,  in  all 
probability,  have  been  quite  beyond  the  ordinary 
reach.  The  marvellous  love  of  God  is  shewn  by 
His  gift  of  a  Eedeemer,  whose  perfection  starts  from 
the  level  of  the  most  ordinary  members  of  our  race ; 
while  yet,  by  stooping  so  low.  He  undergoes  no  real 
degradation.  The  pattern  of  life  offered  from  the 
manger  of  Bethlehem  to  the  Cross  has  points  of  con- 
tact for  men,  women,  and  children  of  all  classes. 
It  attracts,  by  its  perfect  humility,  frankness,  and 
gentleness;  so  that  the  meanest  of  mankind  feels 
in  the  Gospels  a  sympathy  far  removed  from  the 
coldness  of  awful  condescension.  Yet  the  same  life 
elevates  the  highest  by  its  perfect  holiness  and  un- 
selfishness, rebuking  pride  and  luxury  with  a  silent 
protest,  that  cannot  be  unfelt  by  the  most  exalted  and 
successful  of  kings  or  conquerors. 

In  the  very  words,  ''  the  Imitation  of  Christ," 
there  is  a  freshness  and  a  fragrance  that  belongs  to 
no  other  words.  We  all  know  something  of  it.  If 
it  is  our  privilege  to  be  bruised  in  any  degree  like 
Him,  as  I  trust  we  all  may  be  (let  us  not  shrink 
from  it !),  we  shall  feel  this  fragrance  with  tenfold 
delight  and  gratitude. 


217 


LECTUKE   VII, 


JEREMIAH  viii.  11. 


They  have  healed  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  My  people  slightly, 
saying,  Peace,  peace ;  when  there  is  no  peace. 


THE  NATUEAL  DESIBE  FOE  PEACE,  AND  THE  INADEQUACY 
OF  HUMAN  EFFOETS  TO  ATTAIN  IT. 

I.  Social  tendency  of  mankind. — The  family  the  basis  of  society. — 
Obligations  to  (1)  the  ideal  of  paternal  government. — High  con- 
ception of  kingship. — Chinese  book  of  history. — The  "  Great 
Plan." — (2)  The  assertion  of  individual  liberty. — Socrates,  &c. — 

.  (3)  The  sense  of  social  duty. — Plato's  Republic. — Education  of 
children. — Higher  position  of  women. 

Nevertheless,  the  State  cannot  make  men  really  happy. — Impos- 
sibility even  of  preventing  war. — Limit  to  the  power  of  re- 
warding virtue. — The  wants  of  the  soul  untouched. 

II.  Natural  alliance  between  Religion  and  Politics. — Three  theo- 
ries of  their  relation,  (1)  Popular  Religion  treated  as  a  preser- 
vative of  Order  apart  from  Truth.  —  Ancient  philosophers. — 
Polybius  on  Roman  Religion. — Euhemerism. — Yarro. — Italian 
tendency  to  subordinate  Truth  to  Expediency. — (2)  Religious 
Reformation  imposed  upon  all  citizens. — Plato's  'Laws,  book  x. : 
his  Religious  Discipline. — Mahomet. — Formal  character  of  Islam. 
— Defective  theology  and  morality. — AVant  of  Love. — Character 
of  Mahomet. — His  lapse. — Why  not  a  "true  prophet." — How 
far  sincere. — Islam,  1.  has  stereotyped  a  low  form  of  social  life  ; 
2.  has  opposed  religious  and  intelltctual  liberty;  3.  is  a  barrier 
to  the  Gospel. — (3)  Religion  a  voluntary  society,  not  necessarily 
co-extensive  with  the  State. — Polynesian  Areoi. — Pythagorean 
clubs. — The  Mysteries. — Private  guilds. — Buddhism. — Reasons 
for  its  success. — Assertion  of  free-will  and  the  moral  Law. — 
Not  really  a  religion. — Selfishness  and  apathy. — Failure. 


218  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

I. 

fPHAT  man  is  formed  for  social  life,  not  for  solitude, 
is  a  truth  which  will  hardly  be  questioned  \  The 
hermit  life,  when  it  is  not  a  mere  singularity  or  freak 
of  temper,  is  valuable  mainly  for  its  influence  on 
society.  It  may  at  times  be  an  important  protest 
against  popular  corruption.  It  may  be  a  necessary 
part  of  the  education  of  a  great  teacher.  But  in 
both  cases  men  only  go  into  the  wilderness  with  ad- 
vantage when  they  come  back  to  regenerate  their 
fellows,  like  John  the  Baptist  and  St.  Paul  ^,  not  when 
they  are  merely  thinking  of  themselves.  Further, 
it  is  generally  allowed  that  all  society  worthy  of  the 
name  is  based  on  the  family.     Only  in  the  circle  of 


-  The  social  instinct  is  a  commonplace  with  Aristotle,  avBpanos 
(f){i(rei,  TToXiTiKov  fmov,  Politics,  i.  2,  9 ;  Ethic.  Nic,  i.  7,  6  ;  ix.  9,  3 

(the  statement  in  Eth.N.,  viii.  12,  7,  audpanos  tj  cpva-ei  a-vi'SvacmKbv 

fiaXKov  Tj  TToXiTtKov,  is  not  really  inconsistent).  Cicero  de  Officiis, 
i.  4,  has  a  pleasant  chapter  on  the  subject.  Hobbes  is  probably 
the  only  writer  of  name  who  has  maintained  the  paradox  that 
the  state  of  nature  is  a  state  of  war.  Cp.  Mr.  Eaton's  note 
on  the  passage  of  the  Politics. 

*  It  is  not  necessary  here  to  discuss  the  value  of  monasticism, 
which  is,  in  its  origin,  a  re-assertion  of  the  social  instinct  in  those 
who  have  had  a  common  impulse  to  retire  from  the  world.  But 
I  suppose  that  most  English  Churchmen  would  agree  in  condemn- 
ing that  monasticism  which  had  as  its  object  the  salvation  only  of 
the  brethren  of  the  order,  and  in  admiring  that  which  (under  pro- 
per restrictions)  had  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  others  as  its  prin- 
cipal aim.  This  is  the  principle  laid  down,  for  instance,  by  a 
writer  in  the  Chr.  Remembrancer,  vol.  55,  p.  35,  Jan.,  1868,  re- 
viewing Montalembert's  Monks  of  the  West,  who  traces  the  failure 
of  the  great  monastic  system  to  "  the  abandonment  of  the  Evan- 
gelization of  Society,  in  order  to  the  pursuit  of  individual  per- 
fection." 


yil.]  The  Family  the  basis  of  Society.  219 

the  home,  founded  by  a  single  pair,  do  we  find  that 
warmth  of  mutual  love  and  cherishing  protection 
which  are  necessary  to  develope  human  character  at 
its  best :  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  civilized  commu- 
nities have  been  formed  by  a  sort  of  imitation  and  en- 
largement of  the  family,  through  the  ties  of  kinship 
and  dependence^.  The  elements  of  all  politics  are 
present  in  every  household.  The  father  is  the  natu- 
ral type  of  the  chieftain  of  a  clan  or  tribe,  and  the 
ruler  of  a  nation.  The  members  of  a  family,  the  wife, 
the  children,  the  dependents,  with  their  several  offices 
and  positions,  are  analogous  to  the  citizens  of  a  state, 
falling  naturally  into  orders  and  classes.  The  com- 
mon life  of  the  household,  pursued  for  common  ends, 
and  occupied  with  common  property,  is  an  image  of 
that  of  larger  social  communities  with  their  united 
rights  and  duties. 

The  morality  of  civil  life  is  also  little  more  than 
an  extension  of  that  which  gives  dignity  and  glad- 
ness to  the   home.     Obedience   to   authority,   right 

'  Plato  traces  the  development  of  tlie  state  from  the  family  with 
some  picturesqueness  {Laics,  book  iii.  pp.  680  foil.),  taking  as  his 
text  the  description  of  the  Cj^clopes  in  the  Odyssey  (ix.  114), 
amongst  whom  '*  everyone  is  the  judge  of  his  wife  and  children." 
Aristotle  quotes  the  same  passage,  and  goes  over  much  the  same 
ground,  of  course  with  natural  difference  of  manner,  in  his  Politics, 
book  i.  2,  7,  &c.  The  modern  reader  will  consult  Sir  H.  Maine's 
Early  History  of  Institutions  (Lond.,  1875),  and  other  similar 
books.  It  is  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  question  whether  man- 
kind, or  any  large  part  of  it,  has  ever  lived  promiscuously  in  a 
state  inferior  to  that  of  many  beasts  and  birds.  Even  if  such 
a  form  of  life  could  be  proved  to  have  existed, it  has  never  directly 
produced,  and  never  could  produce,  true  civilized  humanity.  The 
family  is  a  necessary  pre-supposition  of  any  society  worthy  of  the 
name.  The  Oneida  Creek  experiment  is,  I  believe,  found  too 
artificial  and  painful  to  continue. 


220  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

conduct  of  self,  and  the  performance  of  social  duty, 
are  the  three  special  virtues  of  the  citizen,  as  they 
are  of  the  member  of  a  family.  Whatever  happiness 
and  peace  man  can  find  in  common  life,  are  found 
where  these  are  practised.  Let  us  consider  in  a  very 
summary  manner  the  blessings  which  we  owe  to  each 
of  them. 

(1.)  Obedience  to  authority,  though  never  out  of 
date,  is  more  essential  in  the  early  stages  of  society 
than  in  any  others,  because  it  is  the  foundation  on 
which  all  corporate  union  rests.  A  sovereign  authority 
is  no  result  of  compact,  but  is  the  natural  acknowledg- 
ment of  a  superior,  and  is  as  necessarily  pre-supposed 
in  the  state  as  the  headship  of  a  father  in  the  family. 
The  lessons,  too,  which  are  learnt  in  both  cases  are 
similar.  The  father  is  the  natural  instrument  by 
whose  means  children  acquire  an  exalted  idea  of  the 
godlike  qualities  of  strength,  wisdom,  will  and  power, 
of  justice  and  tenderness  combined.  Through  the 
father  they  are  taught  to  repose  on  a  superior  guid- 
ance in  the  affairs  of  life,  a  watchful  providence 
working  for  their  benefit,  even  though  the  means 
may  be  painful  or  unintelligible.  The  transference 
of  this  idea  to  a  wider  area,  and  the  observation  of 
these  qualities  in  the  head  of  a  large  patriarchal  clan, 
the  chief  of  a  tribe,  or  the  ruler  of  a  nation,  has 
constantly  been  the  first  means  of  lifting  masses  of 
men  above  themselves  and  their  petty  or  grinding 
cares.  Men  naturally  gather  round  him  and  beg  him 
to  help  them,  as  their  Father  and  their  Shepherd. 
In  certain  conditions  of  life  repose  upon  a  strong  arm 
is  the  one  thing  felt  to  be  needful.  Men  perceive 
themselves  too  weak  to  stand  alone ;  they  want  some 


VII.]         The  Paternal  relation  in  Government.       221 

personal  object  to  which  they  may  cling,  and  on 
which  they  may  rely.  He  who  gives  such  support 
is  often  madly  and  foolishly  idolized:  but  devotion 
to  a  sovereign,  even  when  not  too  worthy,  has  fos- 
tered trustfulness  and  trustworthiness,  fidelity,  loyalty 
and  chivalry,  humility  and  patience,  in  a  way  that 
no  other  motive  in  our  experience  could  have  done. 
We  have  already  seen  in  former  lectures'*  how  this 
high  idea  of  kingship  has  been  in  past  times  asso- 
ciated with  a  revelation  of  divinity,  often,  it  must 
be  allowed,  to  the  great  detriment  of  true  worship. 
Yet  even  the  divinised  monarchs  of  those  huge  and 
overbearing  empires,  which  Scripture  likens  so  for- 
cibly to  wild  beasts  and  birds  of  prey^,  may  be 
thought  of  as  instruments  in  God's  hand  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  kingdom  of  Him  who  comes  "  as 
a  Son  of  ManV'  the  true  father  and  ruler  of  the 
human  race.  "  Nebuchadrezzar  my  servant,"  ''  Cyrus 
my  shepherd,"  are  titles  of  holy  writ  for  sovereigns 
of  two  of  these  fierce  imperial  powers,  while  to  St. 
Paul  the  Roman  emperor  is  "  the  minister  of  God 
for  good\"  Nor  can  we  be  wrong  in  believing  that 
the  marvellous  continuance  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  to 
which  we  have  already  called  attention  ^,  is  a  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise  of  length  of  days  and  permanence 
of  dwelling  given  to  those  who  obey  the  Fifth  Com- 

*  Lect.  III.,  pp.  84  foil.  ;  cp.  Lect.  YI.,  p.  210. 

*  Daniel  vii.  3  foil. ;  Ezekiel  xvii.  3,  7  ;  Isaiah  xlvi.  11. 

*  Daniel  vii.  13,  *  k'bar  enosh '  "as  a  Son  of  man"  (not  "the 
Son"),  in  contrast  with  the  **  great  beasts"  previously  described. 

■'  Jeremiah  xxv.  9  ;  xxvii.  6  ;  xliii.  10  :  cp.  Ezekiel  xxix.  18 — 
20  (Nebuchadrezzar's  service  against  Tyrus) :  Isaiah  xliv.  28 : 
Romans  xiii.  4.  ^  Lect.  III.,  p.  86. 


222  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

mandment.  In  that  country  filial  duty  is  the  highest 
law  of  morality,  both  in  the  family  and  the  state; 
and  those  classics,  which  to  some  extent  fill  the 
place  of  sacred  books  in  China,  shew  that  this 
feeling  of  the  paternal  and  divine  character  of 
government  has  taken  deep  root  amongst  the  ru- 
lers as  amongst  the  ruled ^  "From  heaven,"  says 
their  ancient  book  of  history, — the  Shu  King,  in  one 
of  its  earliest  chapters,  — ''  From  heaven  are  the 
(social)  relationships,  with  their  several  duties  ^°." 
These  are  the  five  relations  between  husband  and 
wife,  father  and  son,  ruler  and  subject,  elder  brother 
and  younger,  friend  and  friend, — a  list  in  which  we 
notice  that  the  political  relation  takes  (no  doubt  in- 
tentionally) the  central  position  amongst  those  of 
private  and  domestic  life.  "When  (sovereign  and 
ministers  shew)  a  common  reverence  and  united  re- 
spect for  these,  lo !  the  moral  nature  (of  the  people) 
is  made  harmonious."  .  .  .  "The  business  of  govern- 
ment ! — ought  we  not  to  be  earnest  in  it  ?  ought  we 
not  to  be  earnest  in  it^^  ?" 

This  earnestness  in  government  is  the  prevailing 
tone  throughout  the  whole  of  this  very  remarkable 
book.     In  it  we  have  the  Instructions  and  Announce- 

^  So  much  is  this  the  case,  that  the  precept,  "  Therefore  shall 
a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his 
■wife"  {Gen.  ii.  24;  Matt.  xix.  5,  &c.),  seems  to  be  a  serious 
obstacle  to  some  Chinese  enquirers  after  Christianity.  The  posi- 
tion of  women  in  China  is,  on  the  other  hand,  far  from  satisfactory. 
The  wife  is  too  often  a  drudge  in  her  husband's  family. 

'°  Sacred  Booh,  vol.  iii.  p.  55.  The  documents  in  this  book 
relate  to  the  early  period,  b.c.  2357 — 627,  yet  Dr.  Legge  argues 
strongly  for  its  general  credibility.  See  his  Introduction,  pp.  12, 
15,  &c.  "  Ibid.,  p.  56. 


YII.]  The  Chinese  Ideal  of  Kingship.  223 

ments  of  one  sovereign  and  statesman  after  another, 
the  earliest  of  them  more  than  two  thousand  years 
before  our  era,  sometimes  harshly  reflecting  on  their 
predecessors  or  opponents,  but  all  breathing  a  like 
spirit  of  devotion  to  the  good  of  the  people.  The 
"  one  man,"  as  the  king  is  frequently  called,  is  seen 
realizing  his  commission  from  Heaven  in  no  light  or 
arrogant  manner.  His  position  towards  the  men  of 
the  "myriad  regions"  under  his  rule  fills  him  with 
awe,  and  even  with  terror  ^^.  He  not  unfrequently 
describes  himself  as  "the  little  child;"  he  calls  upon 
the  people  to  sympathise  with  his  anxieties,  and  to 
imagine  his  solicitude  on  their  behalf;  he  is  struck 
with  the  worth  of  the  relationship  between  himself 
and  his  subjects.  It  is  useless  unless  it  produces 
mutual  respect  and  reverence ;  and  so  misrule  is 
treated  as  a  great  opportunity  for  virtue  thrown 
away  by  the  sovereign,  as  well  as  an  actual  offence 
moving  the  indignation  of  heaven. 

Expressions  like  the  following  occur  again  and 
again,  and  with  a  force  and  variety  which  convinces 
us  that  they  are  not  merely  conventional : — 

"  The  virtue  of  the  ruler  is  seen  in  his  good  government, 
and  that  government  in  the  nourishment  of  'the    people,'* 
(p.  47). 
*     "I  wish  to  help  and  support  my  people."    (p.  58). 

"  It  was  the  lesson  of  our  great  ancestor  : — *  The  people 
should  be  cherished,  and  not  looked  down  upon.  .  .  . 

"  The  ruler  of  men — 

"  How  should  he  be  but  reverent  of  his  duties  ?  "  (p.  79 ). 

"  See,  for  example,  the  striking  language  of  the  Emperor  Thang, 
quoted  above,  p.  165,  note  54.  Cp.  ShU  King,  pp.  108,  110,  for 
the  **  anxieties  "  of  a  king. 


224  The  Natural  Desire  for  Veace.  [Lect. 

"  The  sovereign  without  the  people  has  none  whom  he 
can  employ ;  and  the  people  without  the  sovereign  have 
none  whom  they  can  serve.  Do  not  think  yourself  so  large 
as  to  deem  others  small.  If  ordinary  men  and  women  do 
not  find  the  opportunity  to  give  full  development  to  their 
ability,  the  people's  lord  will  be  without  the  proper  aids  to 
complete  his  merit,"  (p.  103). 

"  Heaven  and  earth  is  the  parent  of  all  creatures ;  and  of 
all  creatures  man  is  the  most  highly  endowed.  The  sincerely 
intelligent  (among  men)  becomes  the  great  sovereign ;  and 
the  great  sovereign  is  the  parent  of  the  people,"  (p.  125). 

The  ideal  state  of  China  is  naturally  nothing  else 
than  the  sovereignty  of  an  ideal  king.  This  state 
is  sketched  in  the  short  treatise  called  The  Great 
Flan^^^  which  makes  more  claims  to  the  character 
of  a  Divine  revelation  than  most  of  the  documents 
in  the  '•'•  classics."  The  central  point  of  this  strange 
little  book,  which  contains  a  sort  of  philosophy  of 
the  Universe,  is  called  "  Of  Eoyal  Perfection,"  which 
is  thus  described  : — 

"  The  Sovereign  having  established  (in  himself)  the  high- 
est degree  and  pattern  of  excellence,  concentrates  in  his  own 
person  the  five  (sources  of)  happiness,  and  proceeds  to  diflfuse 
them,  and  give  them  to  the  multitudes  of  the  people.     Then 

^^  It  forms  Book  iv.  of  the  8hu  King,  and  is  ascribed  to  Tii,  the 
semi-mythical  king.  "  To  him  Heaven  gave  the  Great  Plan,  with 
its  nine  divisions ;  and  the  unvarying  principles  of  its  method  were 
set  forth  in  their  due  order." — Sacred  Boohs,  vol.  iii.  p.  140.  As 
Dr.  Legge  says,  there  is  only  a  "  shadowy  resemblance  "  between 
this  book  and  the  Pythagorean  treatise,  On  the  Universe,  which 
bears  the  name  of  Ocellus  Lucanus  (written  probably  in  the  first 
century  e.g.),  to  which  it  has  been  compared.  The  latter  contains 
no  speculations  on  government,  which  are  the  main  subject  of 
the  Great  Plan. 


VII.]  ''  The  Great  FlanP  225 

they,  on  their  part,  embod3'ing  your  perfection,  will  give  it 
(back)  to  you,  and  secure  the  preservation  of  it.  Among  all 
the  multitudes  of  the  people,  there  will  be  no  unlawful  con- 
federacies, and  among  men  (in  office)  there  will  be  no 
bad  and  selfish  combinations; — let  the  sovereign  establish 
in  himself  the  highest  degree  and  pattern  of  excellence/' 
(p.  142). 

The  Great  Flan  then  goes  on  to  direct  how  men 
of  different  degrees  of  virtue  are  to  be  treated,  so 
as  to  bring  out  a  reflection  of  the  king's  own  cha- 
racter :  — 

"This  amplification  of  the  royal  perfection,"  we  read, 
"contains  the  unchanging  (rule),  and  is  the  (great)  lesson; 
yea,  it  is  the  lesson  of  God.  All  the  multitudes  of  the 
people,  instructed  in  this  amplification  of  the  perfect  ex- 
cellence, and  carrying  it  into  practice,  will  thereby  approxi- 
mate to  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  Heaven,  and  say,  '  The  Son 
of  Heaven  is  the  parent  of  the  people,  and  so  becomes  the 
sovereign  of  all  under  the  sky,'  "  (p.  144). 

These  words  would  be  striking  anywhere,  but  they 
are  specially  striking  when  we  meet  with  them  in 
a  practical  book  of  history  like  this.  We  admire 
a  brilliant  exception  like  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  philo- 
sopher upon  the  throne,  seeking  to  make  himself  all 
that  a  man  should  be,  and  to  fulfil  hi's  duties  as 
a  citizen  of  Eorae  and  of  the  world  ^^     But  I  think 

"  In  Marcus  Aurelius'  twelve  books  of  meditations  there  is 
a  curious  absence  of  any  detailed  reflection  upon  his  duties  as 
a  sovereign  to  his  subjects.  The  question  hardly  seems  to  interest 
him.  In  the  following  passage  he  comes  near  it  for  a  moment ; 
but  he  is  generally  (if  we  may  say  so)  too  much  occupied  with  the 
perfection  of  his  private  or  inner  life.  In  Book  vi.  chap.  30,  he 
says,  *'  Beware  of  turning  into  a  Caesar,  of  putting  on  false  colours ; 

for   such  things   are   {o^ia  fxrj   dnoKaiaapuidtjs,   fJLT]   I3a({}ris'   ylvfTai  y"/j). 

Q 


226  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

we  ought  to  admire  more  these  long,  anxious,  and 
continued  efforts  of  Chinese  sovereigns  and  statesmen, 
to  bring  out  the  divine  and  fatherly  ideal  of  royal 
power.  Such  efforts  must  have  stored  in  that  people 
a  reserve  of  force,  which  will  one  day  tell  in  direc- 
tions of  which  we  can  now  scarcely  dream. 

(2.)  Second  to  this  in  logical  sequence,  as  well  as 
in  historical  succession,  comes  the  assertion  of  indi- 
vidual liberty,  or  the  right  and  duty  of  self-direction. 

It  needs  but  few  words  to  recall  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude which  we  owe  to  those  who  have  vindicated  the 
personal  rights  of  citizens,  especially  in  the  old  re- 
publics of  Greece  and  Eome.  The  culture  of  powers 
entrusted  immediately  to  ourselves,  and  only  in  a 
secondary  degree  to  anyone  else,  the  training  of  the 
will  and  of  the  sense  of  separate  responsibility,  the 
conception  of  duty  as  at  times  obliging  us  to  place 
ourselves  singly  in  defiance  of  our  surroundings,  are 
as  important  in  a  religious,  as  they  are  in  a  social 
point  of  view.  The  men  of  old  days,  who  felt  it 
imperative  upon  them  to  think  and  act  for  themselves, 
who  would  not  bow  to  tyranny,  or  sink  under  the 

Keep  thyself  therefore  simple,  good,  uncorrupt,  grave,  unaffected, 
a  friend  of  justice,  reverent  to  the  gods,  benevolent,  affectionate, 
strenuous  to  perform  thy  proper  works.  Strive  to  remain  such  as 
philosophy  designed  to  make  thee.  Venerate  the  gods,  save  men. 
Life  is  short :  there  is  one  fruit  of  existence  upon  earth,  a  holy 
disposition  and  actions  useful  to  society  {hiadeais  Scria  koX  upd^eis 
KoivaviKai).'^  Cp.  the  same  book,  chap.  44  :  "  Everything  is  helped 
by  that  which  is  agreeable  to  its  constitution  and  nature.  Now 
my  nature  is  rational  and  social  (ttoXitiktj).  My  city  and  father- 
land, as  Antoninus,  is  Rome,  and,  as  a  man,  is  the  world.  It  is 
therefore  only  those  things  which  benefit  these  cities  that  I  can 
reckon  good." 


YII.]        Individual  Lihcrtjj  and  Social  Biit/j.  227 

pressure  of  caste  and  custom,  stand  out  before  us,  and 
call  to  us,  nay,  seem  to  grasp  our  hands  as  brothers 
from  the  dim  and  unimaginable  past. 

When  Socrates,  as  president  of  the  Athenian  as- 
sembly, refused  to  put  a  vote  which  his  conscience 
told  him  was  unjust,  he  elevated  the  whole  conception 
of  personal  liberty  ^l  l^o  one  could  hereafter  yield 
on  any  like  occasion  without  a  feeling  of  shame  and 
wrong-doing.  Such  conduct  has,  directly  or  in- 
directly, helped  many  who  have  faced  the  anger  of 
a  turbulent  multitude  in  a  still  holier  cause.  ISTay, 
even  the  proud  plea,  "  Civis  Eomanus  sum,"  has 
been  a  stimulus  to  those  who,  standing  before  the 
bar  of  judgment,  have  asserted  that  their  citizen- 
ship was  in  heaven,  and  their  highest  title  that 
of  Christian. 

(3.)  Thirdly,  the  conception  of  a  state  as  being 
a  moral  entity,  with  duties  as  well  as  rights,  though 
of  slower  and  more  secret  growth  than  either  of  the 
foregoing,  and  hardly  yet  recognized  in  its  fulness,  has 
been  no  less  real,  and  no  less  valuable.  It  has  been 
obscured  by  kings  and  rulers,  who,  as  leaders  in  war, 
have  almost  of  necessity  grasped  the  control  of  fo- 
reign politics.  It  has  been  obscured  in  home  politics 
by  the  conflicts  and  shifting  alliances  of  class  with 
class,  and  of  one  estate  with  another.  But  century 
after  century,  the  thought  has  grown,  that  the  rights 
of  individuals,  whether  kings  or  subjects,  the  strife 

^*  The  proposal  was  to  condemn  to  death  by  a  single  vote  the 
nine  generals  who  fought  at  Arginusa;,  All  the  other  prytanes 
yielded  to  the  popular  clamour.  Sec  Xcnophon,  Hist.  Grceca,  i. 
7,  15;  Memorabilia,  i.  1,  18. 


2.28  The  Natural  Desire  for  Feace.  [Lect. 

of  classes,  the  enlargement  of  boundaries,  were  not 
everything,  but  that  the  state  as  a  body  had  an  exist- 
ence, a  conscience,  a  moral  life.  We  have  gradually 
learnt  that  the  State  has  a  duty  to  all  its  citizens,  not 
to  attempt  the  chimerical  project  of  making  them  all 
equal,  but  to  give  them  a  fair  chance  of  development 
in  the  sphere  to  which  their  nature  adapts  them ;  to 
abolish  private  war  and  slavery,  to  protect  men  im- 
partially from  one  another,  and  to  protect  them  no 
less  from  themselves.  We  have  learnt,  too,  from  this 
idea,  that  the  foreign  policy  of  a  nation  is  a  matter  of 
conscience,  not  simply  of  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, or  of  aggrandizement;  and  of  conscience  which 
concerns  the  whole  body,  not  merely  the  sovereign, 
the  executive  government,  or  the  fighting  class. 

It  is  the  presence  of  this  idea,  in  a  sort  of  pro- 
phetic form,  which  gives  the  charm  to  such  a  book 
as  Plato's  Hepublic.  It  is  not  only  a  noble  work  of 
imagination,  but  it  has  the  practical  value  of  pointing 
out  two  great  social  needs,  the  elevation  of  woman 
to  be  the  companion  and  helpmeet  of  man  ^*^,  and  the 
education  of  all  children^''',  a  duty  which  has  never 
been  thoroughly  recognized  till  the  present  century. 
That  Plato  treated  the  former  of  these  subjects  in 

'^  The  equality  of  women  with  men,  except  in  bodily  strength, 
is  treated  in  Rep.,  v.  pp.  454 — 457. 

"  The  subject  of  education  occupies  really  the  largest  space  in 
the  treatise.  In  Rep.,  vii.  736,  we  are  told  that  knowledge  is  not 
to  be  required  under  compulsion,  but  the  whole  tendency  of  the 
book  is  to  make  it  universal.  According  to  the  Laws,  vii.  804, 
education  is  to  be  made  compulsory,  and  the  same  for  girls  as 
boys.  In  Laws,  vi.  765,  766,  a  minister  of  education  is  to  be 
appointed,  and  to  be  accounted  the  most  important  officer  of  state. 


VIL]     Plato's  ^^RepiiUic^'' a  sort  of  PropJiecfj.        229 

a  hard  and  grotesque  manner,  is  not  to  be  denied  ^^ ; 
and  similar  extravagance  seems  too  often  the  fate  of 
those  who  approach  it  without  the  sobering  refine- 
ment of  Christian  morality  ^^.  But  no  one  who  looks 
at  social  prospects  at  home  and  abroad,  who  sees,  for 
instance,  the  heroic  work  of  salvation  and  reforma- 
tion undertaken  by  women,  sometimes  almost  single- 
handed,  amongst  ourselves,  or  who  sees  the  Sisterhoods 
of  France  almost  the  only  thoroughly  effective  and 
popular  religious  agencies  in  that  country,  can  doubt 
that  there  is  a  public  work  for  women  in  the  present 
and  in  the  future,  which  has  only  just  begun  to  dawn. 
The  remarks  we  have  hitherto  been  making  may 
serve,  in  some  sort,  to  remind  you  of  the  methods 
and  directions  in  which  improvements  in  politics 
may  conduce  to  human  happiness.  The  question 
which  immediately  arises,  and  which  more  directly 
concerns  us,  is  this :  —  Can  political  life,  can  the 
State,  make  men  really  happy  ? 

'^  Plato  pushes  the  equality  of  the  sexes  too  far,  and  enacts 
a  community  of  wives  and  children  amongst  the  "guardians:"  Rep., 
V.  457,  462  foil.  This  is  tacitly  given  up  in  the  Lmvs,  in  which 
a  higher  feeling  on  this  and  kindred  subjects  is  observable.  Aris- 
totle criticizes  the  supposed  equality,  Politics,  i.  13,  §  9,  and  the 
community,  ii.  2 — 4. 

^^  This  appears  particularly  in  A.  Comte's  theory  of  an  ideal 
state,  though  he  takes  a  different  line  from  that  of  Plato.  See  his 
System  of  Positive  Polity  (tr.  by  Congreve),  vol.  iv.  p.  96,  on  the 
adoration  of  women,  and  pp.59 — 61,  279,  etc.,  on  the  so-called 
Utopia.  It  is  easy  to  trace  here  the  influence  of  the  exaggerated 
cultus  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  which  he  frequently  refers  as 
a  sort  of  unconscious  prophecy  of  his  own  system.  The  ascription 
to  Mahomet  of  a  high  ideal  of  women  is  a  paradox,  not  absolutely 
without  foundation,  but  not  borne  out  by  the  general  tendency 
of  his  life  and  his  utterances  on  the  subject.     See  below,  p.  255. 


230  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

The  answer  clearly  is  : — They  cannot. 

They  can,  indeed,  to  a  great  extent,  assure  the 
conditions  necessar\'-  to  outward  peace ;  they  can 
remove  some  of  the  graver  obstacles  to  happiness; 
they  can  strengthen  the  feeling  of  personal  inde- 
pendence, and  even  set  before  men  jrreat  ideals ;  but 
they  can  do  little,  and  probably  increasingly  little, 
for  the  life  of  the  soul. 

Even  the  primary  condition  of  outward  peace  can 
only  be  assured  to  a  very  limited  degree.  The  poli- 
tician has  to  do  with  states  and  nations,  and  rightly 
enough  makes  a  virtue  of  patriotism.  But  the  ideal 
of  peace  for  man,  as  the  Stoics  and  others  have  seen, 
must  include  the  whole  race  as  one  family.  This 
antithesis  between  the  practical  and  the  ideal  seems 
not  merely  accidental  or  transitory ;  for  there  is  no 
apparent  tendency  of  nations  to  coalesce  or  form  one 
state.  Eather,  one  of  the  most  striking  phenomena 
of  the  present  century,  is  the  development  and  re- 
vival of  nationalities,  the  accentuating  of  racial  dif- 
ferences, and  the  tendency  to  redistribute  large  con- 
glomerate states  according  to  kinship  and  other  simi- 
lar affinities.  Again,  the  configuration  of  the  globe 
and  other  physical  causes  make  it,  in  the  highest 
degree,  improbable  that  the  present  earth  will  ever 
be  occupied  by  a  single  political  body.  Neither  the 
Korth  American  confederacy,  nor  the  growth  of  the 
unwieldy  empire  of  Eussia,  are  sufficient  instances 
of  a  contrary  tendency.  It  is  easy,  in  fact,  to  see 
elements  of  disintegration,  and  even  of  collapse,  in 
both. 

This   being  the   case,   we   must   always   face   the 


VII.]  ImpossihiUty  of  i^r eventing  War.  231 

danger  of  the  collision  of  the  material  interests  of 
separate  states,  and  the  occurrence  of  war,  whether 
for  political  principle,  or  in  simple  defence  of  such 
interests,  the  importance  which  men  feel  that  foreign- 
ers Cannot  or  will  not  understand.  It  is  possible, 
indeed,  to  imagine  a  federation  of  nations :  but  no 
federation  can  be  a  stronger  bond  than  the  individual 
will  of  each;  and  as  long  as  there  is  evil  in  the 
world,  so  long  is  it  possible  that  selfish  passion  may- 
take  hold  of  a  large  body,  as  well  as  a  small  one. 
Even  within  the  limits  of  a  state  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
abolish  brigandage  and  private  war.  The  outbreak 
of  serious  quarrels  between  man  and  man  is,  to  a 
great  extent,  only  repressed  by  fear;  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  bring  home  the  feeling  of  fear  with  suf- 
ficient force  upon  a  nation  under  a  different  govern- 
ment. To  put  the  matter  in  a  simple  light.  Either 
the  states  of  the  future  will  be  pretty  nearly  equal 
in  power,  in  which  case  nobody  will  be  deterred  from 
war  by  the  absolute  hopelessness  of  success ;  or  they 
will  be  unequal,  and  then  the  selfishness  of  the  larger 
state  will  be  under  a  strong  temptation  to  forcible 
aggression. 

Much,  indeed,  may  be  expected  frorii  the  spread 
of  humane  feeling,  the  closeness  of  commercial  rela- 
tions between  industrial  communities,  and  the  healthy 
experience  of  a  few  cases  of  satisfactory  arbitration. 
It  is  to  be  expected  that  war  will  become  more  and 
more  distasteful  to  the  bulk  of  the  people  in  civilized 
European  states,  and  that  they  will  be  increasingly- 
successful  in  making  their  voices  heard.  But  as  long 
as  human  nature  is  what  it  is,   as  long  as  a  great 


232  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

number  of  men  can  only  be  controlled  by  the  influ- 
ence of  fear,  war  will  always  be  a  possibility,  and  to 
engage  in  it  will  sometimes  be  a  duty.  Politics,  at 
any  rate,  as  distinct  from  religious  influences,  have 
no  sufficient  motives  to  enforce  its  cessation  ^^. 

Again,  in  the  interior  working  of  the  State  we 
have  to  be  content  with  very  inadequate  results,  with 
the  removal  of  the  more  serious  hindrances  to  happi- 
ness, rather  than  with  the  positive  production  of  it^^ 
The  State  is,  in  fact,  more  and  more  forced  to  occupy 
a  negative  position.  It  can  make  certain  kinds  of 
vice  unpleasant  or  unprofitable ;  it  can  absolutely  for- 
bid certain  crimes,  and  punish  them  with  a  terrible 
vengeance ;  it  can  enforce  a  certain  amount  of  moral 
training  and  discipline  upon  children,  and  upon  the 
servants  in  its  own  employment ;  but  it  can  do  little 
to  make  virtue  directly  pleasant  or  profitable  to  the 
mass  of  its  citizens. 

There  is  a  place,  indeed,  for  public  rewards  of 
heroism,  sometimes  it  may  be  for  large  spontaneous 


^°  The  reader  will  find  this  question  discussed  in  Dr.  Mozley's 
remarkable  sermon  on  War  in  his  University  Sermons,  the  argu- 
ment of  which  I  have  used  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs.  Ab- 
stractedly speaking,  war  cannot  be  prevented,  but  it  would  never- 
theless be  a  great  misfortune  if  statesmen  should  acquiesce  in  this 
conclusion,  as  they  are  too  much  inclined  to  do.  It  ought  (I  ven- 
ture to  think)  to  be  as  much  the  general  aim  of  their  foreign  policy 
to  make  war  impossible,  as  it  is  the  object  of  domestic  policy  to 
prevent  riot  and  quarrel  among  their  own  citizens,  and  to  change 
the  forcible  repression  of  crime  into  a  healthy  control  of  public 
opinion. 

^'  Delitzsch  has  a  good  section  on  this  topic  headed,  Beiveis 
aus  der  Vnzureichenheit  des  Staates,  in  his  ChristUche  Apologetik, 
pp.  192—200. 


YIL]  The  State  cannot  give  Happiness.  233 

tributes  of  a  nation's  generosity,  especially  in  re- 
cognition of  acts  done  in  the  public  service,  and  in 
the  more  external  and  practical  branches  of  it.  But 
even  these  have  to  be  jealously  guarded,  lest  they 
have  a  degrading  effect  upon  the  recipients ;  and  the 
good  sense  of  most  nations  has  shrunk  from  making 
such  rewards  in  ordinary  cases,  more  intrinsically 
valuable  than  the  laurel  or  parsley  crown,  the  title, 
the  ribbon,  and  the  medal. 

The  prizes  which  are  sometimes  given  for  acts  or 
states  of  virtue  in  private  life  are  generally  ridi- 
culous, not  because  they  are  given  to  bad  people, 
but  because  the  best  always  escape  them.  The  army 
and  the  public  service  form  a  sort  of  school,  admit- 
ting of  special  discipline,  and  special  rewards.  But  it 
is  impossible  seriously  to  imagine  the  world  as  an 
academy  in  which  good  conduct  should  be  regularly 
marked,  and  the  results  added  up  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  places  changed  in  consequence. 

The  reason  of  course  is,  not  so  much  the  absolute 
impossibility  of  imagining  such  a  state,  as  its  in- 
adequacy to  meet  men's  deepest  wants.  The  best 
would  not  care  for  it ;  and  those  who  seemed  satisfied 
would  be  degraded  by  their  satisfaction.'  What  our 
hearts  really  long  for  is  inward  peace,  spiritual  peace, 
peace  with  God ;  we  want  to  know  how  to  meet  the 
pressure  of  personal  trials  and  temptations,  and  to 
help  others  to  meet  them ;  we  want  a  comfort  that 
no  external  rewards  can  give,  and  a  hope  of  social 
blessedness  that  transcends  all  the  dreams  of  material 
prosperity.  We  have  to  face  the  hard  f^icts  of  sick- 
ness, accident,  trouble,  death,  which  would  make  just 
as  severe  demands  upon  our  nature  in  a  Utopia,  as 


234  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

in  the  present  condition  of  things ;  and  over  and 
above  all  these  we  experience  the  sense  of  sin  and 
fear  of  judgment,  which  immersion  in  worldly  com- 
fort may  deaden,  but  cannot  destroy. 


11. 

A  feeling  of  the  insufficiency  of  social  life  by 
itself  has  led  both  theorists  and  practical  politicians 
to  look  to  religion  to  come  to  the  assistance  of 
politics.  It  is  easy  to  see  how,  even  to  a  heathen, 
the  virtues  of  civil  life  may  take  a  religious  colour, 
and  so  become  much  more  powerful  and  helpful  in 
their  action.  Thus  obedience  to  authority  obviously 
allies  itself  with  a  trust  in  divine  providence ;  vindi- 
cation of  liberty  is  closely  akin  to  the  sense  of  moral 
responsibility  to  our  creator  and  judge;  and  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  social  duty  may  lead  us  to  perceive 
a  spiritual  power  working  in  the  hearts  of  all  our  fel- 
low-men. Such  an  alliance  between  civil  and  religious 
life  is,  indeed,  so  natural,  that  men  in  early  ages  have 
generally  assumed  it  without  conscious  reasoning. 
The  patriarchal  principle  that  the  head  of  the  family 
should  act  as  its  priest  is,  for  instance,  instinctively 
extended  to  the  State.  The  king,  or  chief  magistrate, 
sacrifices  for  his  people ;  the  city  and  nation  are  pu- 
rified at  stated  intervals  by  ceremonial  lustrations; 
the  popular  assembly  is  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of 
a  victim  before  its  business  commences;  the  anger 
of  the  gods,  shewn  in  great  plagues  or  calamities,  is 
propitiated  by  special  ritual,  and  great  public  suc- 
cesses are  the  occasion  of  sacred  triumphs  and  thanks- 
givings.    All  these  circumstances  of  popular  religion 


YII.]      The  relation  of  Religion  and  Politics.  235 

answer  a  deep  want  in  our  nature,  and  that  nation  is 
miserable  which  does  not  retain  them  in  some  shape 
or  other  at  every  stage  of  its  progress.  But  as  time 
goes  on  men  begin  to  change  and  to  doubt.  The 
meaning  of  some  ceremonies  is  lost,  and  that  of  others 
has  become  gross,  or  is  infected  with  selfishness.  The 
patriarchal  feeling  decays,  and  men  recognize  more 
and  more  clearly  that  they  are  responsible  for  their 
own  souls,  and  have  their  own  individual  peace  to 
make  with  God.  Yet,  at  the  same  time,  they  cannot 
but  feel  that  religion  belongs  to  society,  and  ought  to 
leaven  it,  and  that  human  nature  is  not  at  its  best 
without  the  union  and  co-operation  of  soul  with  soul. 

The  great  problem  then  is,  how  to  adapt  religion 
to  social  needs.  This  has  been  answered  in  three 
very  distinct  "ways. 

The  first  answer  which  presents  itself  is  to  per- 
mit the  divergence  which  has  grown  up  between 
the  belief  of  the  enlightened  and  the  religion  of 
the  multitude  to  continue  unchecked.  This  is  the 
method  of  those  who  see  clearly  the  difficulty  and 
danger  of  changes  of  belief,  and  who  value  the 
power  of  custom  and  popular  usage  as  a  guarantee 
of  order.  Such  men  will  be  found  ready '(like  Hobbes 
and  Shaftesbury  amongst  ourselves)  to  support  a  re- 
ligion in  which  they  have  but  scant  belief,  and  even 
to  enforce  its  outward  profession  on  others,  if  their 
private  speculations  are  unchecked  ~".  This  was  prac- 
tically the  answer  of  the  greater  number  of  ancient 

--  On  this  principle,  adopted  both  by  the  pessimist  Hobbes  and 
the  optimist  Shaftesbury,  see  Leland's  View  of  the  Doiatival  Writers, 
vol.  i.  pp.  42  foil.,  81  foil.  (Loud.,  1754). 


236  The  Na  tural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

philosophers,  and  has  been  tacitly  assumed  by  not 
a  few  modern  statesmen,  who  despair  of  attaining 
Truth  on  any  large  scale,  and  who  think  Order  a 
synonym  for  Peace. 

The  second  answer  is  that  of  more  earnest  and 
thorough-going  persons,  who  cannot  acquiesce  in  the 
indolence,  cowardice  and  insincerity  of  the  policy 
which  has  just  been  described.  These  men  do  not 
shrink  from  the  trouble  and  danger  of  overturning 
a  popular  cult.  Their  method  is  one  of  religious 
reform,  but  of  reform  carried  out  by  political  machi- 
nery. They  would  make  a  religion  as  near  as  pos- 
sible representing  abstract  truth,  and  then  impose  it 
upon  all  citizens.  This  was  the  method  advocated 
by  Plato  in  his  last  great  scheme  of  an  ideal  polity 
(the  Laws)^  and  was,  of  course,  actually  put  in  practice 
on  a  grand  scale  by  Mahomet.  These  men  know 
more  of  Peace,  and  recognize  that  it  involves  Truth, 
but  wrongly  think  the  alliance  of  the  two  can  be 
produced  by  Force. 

Thirdly,  and  lastly,  we  have  the  truer  view,  that 
though  order  may  seem  to  gain  something  by  leaving 
religion  unreformed,  and  though  truth  may  seem  to 
be  propagated  by  a  compulsory  profession  of  faith, 
yet  in  both  cases  the  loss  is  greater  than  the  gain. 
In  the  interests  of  human  happiness  and  true  morality 
religious  association  must  be  voluntary,  and  need  not 
necessarily  be  co-extensive  with  the  State.  To  this 
principle  we  owe  a  number  of  minor  religious  ex- 
periments, and  the  greatest  movement  of  all  outside 
Christianity,  namely.  Buddhism.  This  answer  is  true 
in  itself,  but  those  who  give  it  are  apt  to  be  one- 


yil.]  Threefold  treatment  of  Religion.  237 

sided  and  unpractical  in  their  idea  of  Truth,  and  to 
sacrifice  social  order  to  their  private  fancies. 

Christianity  itself,  as  a  social  power,  will  be  the 
subject  of  the  next  Lecture.  As  far  as  it  can  be 
compared  with  other  religions,  it  belongs  of  course 
to  the  third  division,  though  its  supporters  have, 
from  time  to  time,  treated  it  as  if  it  could  be  as- 
signed to  one  or  other  of  the  former. 

Let  us  now  give  a  few  illustrations  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  consequences  of  these  different  methods 
of  treating  religion  in  its  relation  to  society. 

(1.)  The  first  answer  will  commend  itself  to  few 
persons  at  the  present  day,  or,  at  least,  few  amongst 
ourselves  will  have  the  courage  to  own  it :  yet  it  is 
strange  how  much  support  it  has  met  with.  In  aris- 
tocratic communities,  nurtured  under  strong  conser- 
vative instincts  and  prejudices,  it  is  natural  that  men 
should  shrink  from  the  danger  of  attempting  a  change 
of  popular  belief.  The  civilization  of  Greece  and 
Rome  was  of  this  kind,  based  upon  slavery,  which 
was  assumed  as  a  natural  institution  -^ ;    and  that  of 

"  Both  Plato  and  Aristotle  treat  slavery  as  natural.  Plato 
takes  it  for  granted,  Laics,  iii.  690  ;  cp.  ib.,  vi.  777,  on  the  treat- 
ment of  slaves, — the  general  principle  of  which 'is  fine,  but  the 
details  harsh.  In  ix.  868,  it  is  laid  down  that  a  master  who  kills 
his  slave  in  anger  shall  undergo  a  purification  (only) :  cp.  ib.  86-5. 
In  case  the  slave  has  done  no  wrong,  it  is,  however,  considered  as 
murder :  ib.,  872.  Plato  sees  the  danger  of  the  institution,  Rep., 
ix.  578  foil.  Aristotle  argues  at  some  length  that  certain  men  are 
born  for  slavery  (^vo-ei  hoxikoi — Politics,  i.  5  and  6),  but  his  argu- 
ment is  decidedly  weak.  He  defends  the  institution  iu  general, 
while  he  acknowledges  that  in  many  cases  it  produces  injustice, 
liousseau  well  replies: — "  S'll  y  a  des  esclaves  par  nature,  c'est 
parce  qu'il  y  a  eu  des  esclaves  centre  nature"  {Contrat  Social,  i.  2  ) 
On  the  other  hand,  Aristotle  differs  from  Plato  in  recommending 


238  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

India  is,  in  some  respects,  very  similar.  In  all  three 
we  have  philosophers  airily  speculating  about  truth, 
and  the  people  left  in  superstition,  to  which  the  en- 
lightened are  apt,  in  moments  of  weakness  or  com- 
promise, to  return.  As  long  as  contempt  of  the 
masses,  and  a  rigid  system  of  caste  prevails,  so  long 
men  will  be  ready  to  tolerate  a  life  vitiated  by  this 
hopeless  divorce  between  belief  and  worship,  the  de- 
structive and  immoral  character  of  which  needs  hardly 
to  be  insisted  upon.  The  antithesis  between  what  is 
true  and  what  is  expedient,  hovers  about  the  lips  of 
these  philosophers,  and  penetrates  from  the  lips  into 
the  heart,  where  it  justifies  all  kinds  of  subterfuge, 
inconsistency,  and  cruelty.  Educated  men  begin  to 
think  that  they  have  invented  religion  and  invented 
God,  and  when  they  speak  of  truth,  mean  only  opinion 
apart  from  practice.  All  genuine  sympathy  is  lost, 
and  selfish  comfort  becomes  the  chief  aim  of  existence. 
This  view  of  religion  is  strikingly  put  by  the 
rationalistic  Greek  historian,  Polybius,  in  whose  time 
it  was  probably  almost  a  common-place  among  edu- 
cated men.  He  was  living  in  the  second  century 
before  Christ,  and  witnessed  the  social  and  moral 
decay  of  his  own  people,  and  of  other  nations,  and 
the  rise  of  the  great  power  of  Eome.  He  naturally 
asked  what  was  the  reason  of  this  success,  and  gave 
the  following  curious  answer  ^^ : — 

"Besides  the  other  advantages  possessed  by  the  Roman 
constitution,  the  greatest  of  all  appears  to  me   to  be  their 

admonition  of  slaves  rather  than  punishment  (Po/.,  i.  13,  §  14,  cri- 
ticizing Laws,  vi.  777). 

2*  Polybius,  Book  vi.  56,  §§  6— 15. 


YII.]         Order  set  above  Truth.     PohjUus.  239 

conception  about  the  f^ods.  It  is  ray  opinion  that  super- 
stition'^, which  is  considered  a  reproach  amongst  the  rest  of 
mankindy  keeps  the  Roman  state  together.  For  this  has 
been  invested  with  such  pomp,  and  has  been  carried  to  such 
a  pitch  of  ceremony,  both  in  their  private  lives,  and  in  the 
conduct  of  public  business,  that  it  is  impossible  for  it  to  be 
exceeded.  Many  persons  might,  indeed,  think  this  a  strange 
proceeding;  but  I  suppose  they  have  done  it  for  the  sake  of 
the  multitude.  For  if  it  were  possible  to  form  a  state  by 
gathering  together  wise  men,  such  a  method  would,  perhaps, 
be  unnecessary.  But,  inasmuch  as  every  multitude  is  fickle, 
and  full  of  lawless  desires,  irrational  anger,  and  violent 
temper,  it  is  proper  to  keep  such'  people  in  order  with  un- 
seen fears,  and  such-like  tragic  display.  Wherefore  men  of 
old  seem  to  have  introduced  and  popularized  conceptions 
about  the  gods,  and  ideas  of  what  goes  on  in  Hades,  not 
irrationally  and  accidentally ;  but  rather,  men  of  the  present 
day  are  rash  and  irrational  in  getting  rid  of  them.  Hence, 
not  to  speak  of  others,  those  who  manage  public  money 
amongst  the  Greeks,  if  they  are  entrusted  with  a  single 
talent,  being  checked  by  ten  clerks,  and  as  many  seals,  and 
twice  the  number  of  witnesses,  are  incapable  of  being  honest ; 
but  amongst  the  Romans,  men  who  act  as  magistrates  or 
ambassadors,  and  are  entrusted  with  a  great  sum  of  money, 
are  kept  to  their  duty  merely  by  the  sanctity  of  their  oath. 
And  in  other  nations  it  is  rare  to  find  a  man  who  abstains 
from  peculation,  and  is  pure  in  such  matters ;  but  amongst 
the  Romans  it  is  rare  for  any  one  to  be  discovered  in  such 
malversation."  ' 

This  theory  of  Polybius  and  other  Greeks,  though 
doubtless  untrue  as  an  account  of  the  origin  of  Eoman 
religion,    unfortunately  found  favour  with   many  in 

-^  Seio-tSat/ioi/i'a.  The  earliest  extant  use  of  this  word  iu  a  re- 
proachful sense  is  probably  in  Theoiihrastus'  16th  character  of  the 
Superstitious  Man,  if  that  is  genuiue,  as  I  see  no  suflScient  reasou 
to  doubt.  It  is  there  defined  as  biCKia  npos  t6  hai^jLoviov^  "  cowardice 
towards  the  spiritual  world."     Cp.  pp.  144,  177. 


240  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

a  people  much  more  devoted  to  practical  life  and 
government,  than  to  a  love  of  truth -^  Even  in  the 
first  Punic  war  (b.c.  249),  a  consul  made  an  open  jest 
of  his  duty  in  consulting  the  auspices  before  a  battle. 
Men  read  with  eagerness  the  rationalistic  analysis 
of  religion  which  was  given  by  Euhemerus,  and 
statesmen  began  to  ask  how  one  priest  could  meet 
another  without  laughing  ^^. 

So  prevalent  was  this  low  view  of  popular  religion, 
that  the  most  learned  and  honest  of  Roman  writers, 
Marcus  Yarro,  made  an  analysis  of  theology  as  the 
basis  of  his  encyclopaedia  of  religious  antiquities,  in 
which  he  formally  recognized  this  principle.  He  spe- 
cifies three  kinds  of  theology :  first,  the  mythical  or 
poetic ;  secondly,  the  physical,  or  philosophic ;  thirdly, 
the  civil,  or  popular.  The  first  was  full  of  dangerous 
or  unworthy  fables ;  the  second  contained  the  truth ; 
the  third,  or  civil  theology,  though  not  true,  was 
expedient  for  common  people,  and  ought  to  be  kept 
up  by  the  State -^.  We  cannot  wonder,  then,  that 
Eoman  religion  issued  in  a  mere  political  worship 
of  dead  emperors,  and  of  the  genius  of  the  existing 
monarch,  and  of  the  fortune  of  Eome, — the  deification 


"'■^  On  the  decay  of  Eoman  national  religion,  see  Mommsen's 
History  of  Rome,  book  iii.  ch.  13  (vol.  ii.  pp.  400  foil.,  E.  T.).  His 
apparent  condemnation  of  theology  in  the  abstract  is  much  to  be 
regretted,  especially  for  the  author's  own  sake,  to  whom  all  scholars 
owe  so  much. 

"  Cicero,  de  Livinatione,  ii.  24,  51 :  "  Vetus  autem  illud  Catonis 
admodum  scitum  est,  qui  mirari  se  aiebat,  quod  non  rideret,  harus- 
pex,  haruspicem  cum  vidisset." 

^  Varro  was  here  following  Scoevola :  see  St.  Augustine  de 
Civitate  Dei,  iv.  27;  vi.  5,  &c. ;  and  cp.  my  Earhj  Latin^  p.  646. 


yiL]  Religion  of  expediency  at  Rome.  241 

of  force  and  power  and  outward  peace,  with  scarce 
a  spark  of  love  or  moral  enthusiasm. 

How  far  this  spirit  has  been  propagated  to  the 
present  day,  in  the  men  of  Latin  races,  it  is  not  now 
the  place  to  enquire  at  any  length.  But  probably 
a  good  deal  of  the  feeling  which  first  prompted,  and 
afterwards  justified,  the  new  dogma  of  Papal  In- 
fallibility can  be  traced,  in  great  measure,  to  the  same 
sources  as  that  which  assisted  the  deification  of  the 
ancient  Imperial  power.  It  seemed,  perhaps,  a  ne- 
cessary centralisation  of  authority,  destined  to  crown 
the  slowly-built  edifice  of  the  Curia ;  but  it  was  none 
the  less  a  survival  of  the  wretched  old  Italian  system 
of  subordinating  truth  to  expediency  ^^. 

(2.)  The  second  answer  is  (as  we  have  seen)  pro- 
pounded by  more  zealous  persons,  and  is,  at  first 
sight,  more  attractive.  They  say  in  effect: — "Find 
out  the  truth  as  carefully  and  exactly  as  you  can, 

^  Out  of  921  bishops  who  had  received  summons  to  attend  the 
Council,  767  were  present,  and  of  these  276  were  from  Italian 
dioceses,  representing  only  some  27  millions.  The  German  and 
Hungarian  bishops  were  only  67  in  number,  representing  46  mil- 
lions of  Catholics.  See  the  interesting  account  of  the  Council  in 
The  New  Reformation,  by  Theodorus  [J.  Bass  Mullinger],  p.  64,  &c. 
Lond.,  1875.  "In  church  matters  (said  Friedrich)  twenty  Ger- 
mans count  for  less  than  one  Italian."  Mr.  J.  C.  Clay,  who  was 
in  Eome  during  the  Council,  puts  the  number  of  Italian  bishops  at 
600 ;  but  this  can  hardly  be  correct,  though  many  Italians  might 
be  bishops  outside  Italy  {Foreign  Church  Chronicle,  vol.  v.  p.  137, 
Sep.,  1881).  In  the  88  who  voted  non-placet  on  the  famous  fourth 
clause  were  "beyond  all  question  three-fourths  of  the  most  emi- 
nent members  of  the  Council, — Schwarzenberg,  Mathieu,  Darboy, 
Rauscher,  Simor,  Ginoulhiac,  Mac  Hale,  Dupanloup,  Ketteler, 
Strossmayer,  Clifford,  Kenrick,  Maret,  and  Hefele."  {New  Bef., 
p.  88.) 

R 


242  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

and  then  impose  it  upon  everyone.  If  it  is  true,  it 
will  be  good  for  them,  whether  they  like  it  or  not, 
just  as  the  laws  which  make  men  peaceable  do  them 
good,  however  reluctantly  they  may  be  obeyed."  In 
this  way  they  seek  really  to  propagate  truth,  and  to 
ensure  peace  with  God,  but  by  means  which  are  in 
the  end  subversive  of  what  they  desire  to  establish. 

Amongst  the  ancients,  Plato,  stands,  perhaps,  alone 
in  advocating  this  procedure,  a  proof  amongst  many 
of  his  originality.  In  his  Repuhlic^  he  had  trusted  to 
philosophy  to  cure  the  ills  of  humankind,  but  he  had 
little  hope  of  ever  seeing  his  ideal  brought  into  being. 
He  is  obliged  to  be  content  with  supposing  a  pattern 
of  it  somewhere  laid  up  in  heaven  ^°. 

But  in  his  later  portraiture  of  a  model  city  in  the 
Laws^  he  is  more  hopeful,  because  more  religious. 
He  felt  in  his  old  age  that  a  community  founded  on 


Uc,  book  ix.  thus  concludes  (Prof.  Jowett's  transla- 
tion) : — "  Then  if  that  is  his  motive,  he  [i.e.  the  just  man]  will  not 
be  a  politician. 

"  By  the  dog  of  Egypt  he  will !  in  the  city  which  is  his  own, 
though  in  the  land  of  his  birth  perhaps  not,  unless  by  some  provi- 
dential accident. 

"  I  understand :  you  mean  in  that  city  of  which  we  are  founders, 
and  which  exists  in  idea  only ;  for  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is 
such  an  one  anywhere  on  earth. 

"  In  heaven,  I  replied,  there  is  laid  up  a  pattern  of  it  methiaks, 
which  he  who  desires  may  behold,  and  beholding,  may  set  his  own 
house  in  order.  But  whether  such  an  one  exists,  or  ever  will  exist 
in  fact,  is  no  matter ;  for  he  will  live  after  the  manner  of  that  city, 
having  nothing  to  do  with  any  other. 

"True,  he  said." 

According  to  Rep.,  v.  p.  473,  the  realization  of  the  ideal  state  is 
not  to  be  expected  "until  philosophers  are  kings,  or  the  kings  and 
princes  of  the  world  have  the  spirit  and  power  of  philosophy." 


YII.]     Compulsory  Bcformaiion^ — Flatoh  Lmvs.     243 

a  basis  of  united  faitli  in  the  unseen  world  was  the 
true  type  of  society.  He,  therefore,  formed  a  creed 
by  abstraction  from  those  simple  elements  of  belief, 
which  seemed  to  him  to  be  most  capable  of  proof, 
and  most  conducive  to  morality.  His  credenda  are 
three:  1.  That  the  gods  exist;  2.  That  they  take 
care  of  men ;  3.  That  no  prayers  or  sacrifices  will 
prevail  on  them  to  sanction  injustice.  These  he 
supports  by  arguments,  which  are  no  slight  con- 
tribution to  the  armoury  of  what,  for  convenience, 
may  be  called  "  natural  religion."  He  speaks,  in 
really  eloquent  and  persuasive  terms,  of  the  sad  con- 
dition of  atheists,  and  of  the  immorality  of  super- 
stition ;  and,  having  proved  his  creed  to  his  own 
satisfaction,  goes  on  to  enact  that  its  articles  shall  be 
enforced  on  all  citizens  of  his  ideal  polity  ^^  Impiety 
is  to  be  punished  by  imprisonment ;  in  milder  cases, 
with  a  hope  of  reformation ;  in  more  extreme  ones, 
as  a  lifelong  confinement.  Private  sacrifices,  divina- 
tions, and  the  like,  which  are  a  fruitful  source  of 
irreligion,  are  to  be  strictly  forbidden,  and  all  such 

'^  The  whole  of  the  tenth  book  of  the  Laws  is  occupied  with  this 
subject.  See  pp.  885 — 907  for  the  proofs  of  these  credenda,  and 
pp.  907 — 909  for  the  laws  against  impiety  and  on  religion.  On 
the  third  article  of  Plato's  creed,  see  above,  p.  178.  J.  J.  Rousseau, 
at  the  end  of  his  Contrat  Social  (book  iv.  ch.  6),  similarly  pro- 
pounds a  "  civil  religion,"  without  which  he  thinks  it  impossible 
for  a  man  to  be  either  a  good  citizen  or  a  loyal  subject.  The 
sovereign  should  banish  from  the  State  whoever  does  not  believe 
the  existence  of  God  and  Providence,  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and  the  sanctity  of  the  social  contract  and  the  laws.  He 
further  forbids  intolerance  (except  on  these  points).  "Whoever  says 
"There  is  no  salvation  outside  the  Church,"  should  be  driven  from 
the  State.  All  this  is  very  like  Tindal's  principle,  in  his  Rights  of 
the  Christiafi  Church.  Cp.  Leslie  Stephen,  English  Thought  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  vol.  ii.  p.  151  (Lond.,  1876). 


244  TJie  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

acts  are  to  be  public,  and  performed  by  a  public 
priesthood  ^^ 

It  is  a  strange  leap  from  Plato  to  Mahomet,  though 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  bottom  their  principle 
is  the  same,  with  the  great  difference  that  there  is 
between  the  speculative  and  practical  intellect.  Both 
were  jealous  for  the  honour  of  God,  though  Plato 
speaks  vaguely  as  a  polytheist ;  both  were  stern 
enemies  of  superstition,  and  desirous  of  stamping  it 
out  by  force.  Both  of  them  reduced  their  religious 
creed  to  a  minimum,  eliminating  from  it  the  elements 
of  mystery,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  acceptance  from 
the  multitude.  It  is  fortunate  probably  for  the  repu- 
tation of  Plato,  that  he  never  had  the  power  to  put 
his  dream  in  practice,  pure  comparatively,  and  quite 
unselfish  as  his  creed  may  have  been.  The  success  of 
Mahomet,  while  it  has  made  him  an  idol  to  his  fol- 
lowers, cannot  be  viewed  as  an  enviable  success  by 
those  who  look  on  Islam  from  the  outside. 

"We  have  already  said  something  of  this  religion, 
but  it  is  worth  while  to  recall  in  this  place  some 
of  the  more  prominent  defects  under  which  it  la- 
bours. In  the  first  place,  its  conception  of  the 
Deity  is  very  faulty,  being  chiefly  an  enlargement  of 
an  imperfect  human  character.  God  is  represented 
as  perfect  power,  but  not  as  perfect  goodness;  as 
arbitrary  will,  to  whose  action  we  must  be  resigned 
(Muslim),  but  not  as  holy  love  ^^     Consequently,  the 

^*  No  very  important  duties  are  assigned  to  this  priesthood, 
either  here  or  in  Book  VI.  p.  759,  where  there  is  another  mention 
of  them. 

^^  E.g.  cunning  is  ascribed  to  God,  Sura  yiii.  30,  "  They  (the 
unbelievers)  plotted,  but  God  plotted,  and  of  plotters,  God  is  the 


VII.]  Tlieology  of  Islam,  245 

worship  of  God  is  almost  entirely  of  an  external 
character,  consisting  of  ceremonies,  formal  repetitions 
and  recitations,  washings,  pilgrimages,  fastings,  alms- 
givings, and  the  like  ^*.  These  have  a  tendency,  even 
more  than  in  other  religions,  to  become  mere  me- 
chanical acts.  The  sense  of  sin  in  Islam  is  very 
slight;  the  Law  is  not  difficult  to  keep;  God  is 
lenient,  because  man  is  weak  ^^ ;  He  knows  what  we 
are,  and  does  not  expect  much  from  us ;  and  so  the 
doctrine  of  a  Mediator  and  Eedeemer  is  banished,  as 
far  as  may  be,  from  the  heart  of  man  ^^  The  fall  of 
Adam  is  to  Mahomet  little  more  than  the  record 
of  a  sin,  as  it  was  to  the  more  extreme  Pelagians, 
part  of  Old  Testament  history,  and  having  no  par- 
ticular influence  on  his  descendants  ". 

best."  Cp.  above,  pp.  62  foil.,  68,  135  foil.  There  are  some  good 
remarks  in  Neander's  Church  History,  vol.  v.  p.  117,  E.  T.,  ed. 
Bohn,  on  the  theology  of  Islam ;  and  a  striking  passage  in 
Dr.  Mozley's  Lectures  on  Miracles,  pp.  140 — 143,  ed.  3,  1872,  al- 
ready referred  to,  p.  63.  Cp.  Abp.  Trench,  Medtceval  Church  His- 
tory, Lect.  iv.  (Lond.,  1877). 

3*  The  five  foundations  of  practical  religion  are,  1.  The  recital  of 
the  Creed;  2.  Observance  of  the  five  stated  periods  of  prayer,  said 
Avithout  variation  every  day;  3.  The  thirty  days'  fast  of  Ramazan  ; 
4.  The  legal  alms ;  5.  The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  See  T.  P.  Hughes, 
Notes,  p.  101,  and  the  details  which  follow ;  and  Prof.  E.  H.  Palmer, 
the  Qur^dn,  pp.  Ixxi.  foil. 

35  "God  desireth  to  make  your  burden  light  to  you;  for  man 
hath  been  created  weak."     Sura  iv,  (on  women),  verse  32,  &c. 

3^  The  atonement  is  specifically  rejected.  Sura  ii.  44,  45.  The 
popular  worship  at  the  tombs  of  saints  and  Marabouts  is  a  sort  of 
protest  against  this  doctrine  of  the  Koran,  and  some  Moslem  theo- 
logians have  attempted  to  make  Mahomet  into  a  mediator.  See 
J.  W.  H.  Stobart,  Islam,  p.  233,  note,  and  A  Mohammedan  brought 
to  Christ,  the  Autohiogra2)hy  of  the  llev.  Imad-ud-deen,  ed.  2,  p.  12 
(C.  M.  S.  House,  London,  1870).    Cp.  the  tradition  given  on  p.  125. 

"  It  is  related  in  the  Koran,  Sura  vii.  18  foil. ;  cp.  ii.  34  foil. 


246  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

Further,  in  its  ethical  character  Islam  is  a  gloomy 
religion.  It  has  no  true  heartfelt  love  of  God^^, 
whom  the  Moslem  is  taught  to  believe  and  to  fear, 
but  not  to  approach.  The  feeling  of  this  want  has 
driven  many  Moslems  into  a  pantheistic  mysticism 
(Sufiism)^^,  which  is,  however,  entirely  alien  from 
the  formal  and  practical  spirit  of  the  Koran.  Nor 
has  it  any  real  love  for  man  as  man.  The  general, 
and  what  we  may  call  the  orthodox,  belief  is  that 
salvation  is  secured  by  good  works,  and  that  a  work 
specially  pleasing  to  God,  is  the  extermination  of 
idolaters  by  the  sword,  and  the  subjugation  of  infi- 
dels^"  (including,   of  course,   Jews   and  Christians), 

^^  This  is  allowed  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Smith,  Mohammed  and  Moham- 
medanism,  p.  199,  ed.  2,  1876:  "Mohammed  believed  in  God, 
feared,  reverenced,  and  obeyed  Him  according  to  his  light,  as 
few  Jews  or  Christians  ever  did ;  but  he  could  hardly  be  said  in 
the  Christian  or  even  the  Jewish  sense  of  the  word  to  love  God." 

^^  On  Sufiism  see  above,  p.  62,  note.  Imad-ud-deen  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  his  passage  through  it,  and  of  the  ascetic 
practices  by  which  he  sought  to  obtain  peace,  1.  c,  pp.  10 — 14. 

*"  See  on  this  subject  in  general,  which  is  of  considerable  im- 
portance in  its  political  aspect,  the  section  on  Jihad,  or  religious 
war,  in  T.  P.Hughes,  Notes,  pp.  206  foil.,  W.  W.  Hunter's  Indian 
Musalmans,  J.  W.  H.  Stobart,  Islam,  S.  P.  C.  K.,  pp.  191  foil. 
The  quotations  from  the  Koran,  with  some  modern  illustrations, 
are  given  in  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's  sermon,  The  Mohammedan  Woe, 
and  its  passing  away,  in  his  Miscellanies,  vol.  iii.  pp.  92  foil.  The  most 
important  chapter  in  the  Koran  relating  to  it,  is  the  harsh  and  even 
ferocious  Sura  ix.,  delivered  shortly  beJoie  Mahomet's  death,  which, 
by  what  may  be  called  a  fortunate  accident,  wants  the  opening 
Bismillah,  which  is  elsewhere  regularly  prefixed,  i.e.  "In  the 
Name  of  God  the  compassionate,  the  merciful."  (On  the  circum- 
stances of  the  delivery  of  this  Sura,  see  Sir  W.  Muir's  Life,  iv. 
pp.  208  foil.,  1861.)  It  orders  all  idolaters  to  be  killed,  unless  they 
embrace  the  faith  of  Islam  ;  and  proclaims  war  against  "  those  who 
have  received  the  Scriptures,"  i.e.  Jews  and  Christians,  till  they 


VII.]  Ethics  of  Mam.  247 

ideas  which  no  doubt  have,  from  time  to  time,  been 
current  among  Christians,  but  are  contrary  to  the 
letter,,  as  well  as  the  spirit,  of  the  Gospel.  This  de- 
structive and  oppressive  character  is  of  the  essence 
of  the  Koran,  certain  chapters  of  which  may  truly 
be  said  to  be  written  in  blood. 

As  a  system  of  ethics,  besides  these  inherent  de- 
fects, Islam  has  weighted  itself  with  the  necessity 
of  upholding  the  character  of  its  founder  as  a  perfect 
model.  Mahomet  was,  indeed,  honest  enough  to 
confess  his  own  sinfulness  on  various  occasions,  and 
died  with  a  petition  for  pardon  upon  his  lips  ^^.     But 

pay  tribute,  and  are  humbled  (verse  29,  the  clause,  "  Those  to 
whom  the  Scriptures  have  been  given,"  seems  wrongly  placed  by 
Rodwell;  see  the  quotation  in  Muir,  p.  211,  and  E.  H.  Palmer's 
translation). 

In  his  earlier  teaching  at  Medina  (a.d.  623),  Mahomet  declared 
that  Jews,  Christians,  and  Sabeites  (i.e.  Mendeans,  or  "Christians 
of  St.  John"),  whoever  believed  in  God  and  the  last  day,  and  do 
what  is  right,  would  be  saved  {Sura,  ii.  59)  ;  but  this  seems  to 
be  abrogated  by  Sura,  iii.  79,  a  few  years  later:  "Whosoever  de- 
sireth  any  other  religion  than  Islam,  it  shall  not  be  accepted  of 
him,  and  in  the  next  world  he  shall  be  among  the  lost."  In  his 
last  illness — perhaps  in  delirium — Mahomet  cried  out,  "The  Lord 
destroy  the  Jews  and  Christians"  (Muir's  Life,  iv.  p.  270.  Some 
authorities  omit  "and  Christians;"  but  cp.  Sura,  ix.  30,  where 
just  the  same  sentiment  occurs).  It  is  easy  to  make  a  catena  on 
toleration  from  the  Koran,  as  Mons.  J.  B.  St.Hilaire  has  done, 
Mahomet,  pp.  329 — 333 ;  but  it  is  ludicrously  unfair  to  represent 
such  passages  as  the  substance  of  Mahomet's  teaching  on  the  sub- 
ject. In  this  and  other  respects  his  character  got  worse  as  he 
grew  older.  Rodwell' s  translation,  which  gives  the  (probable) 
chronological  order  of  the  chapters,  is  of  great  value  in  exhibiting 
this  change.     I  have  generally  quoted  from  it. 

*^  Cp.  the  tradition  given  above,  p.  125,  note  21.  In  Sura, 
xlviii.  2,  one  of  the  latest  period,  we  read:  "Verily,  we  have 
won  for  thee  an  undoubted  victory,  in  token  that  God  forgiveth 


248  TJie  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

he  evidently  thought  very  highly  of  himself;  and 
many  of  his  followers,  while  admitting  that  his  na- 
ture was  not  impeccable,  assert  (in  the  teeth  of  his 
own  words)  that  he  was  preserved  from  actual  sin, 
and  treat  his  example  as  binding  upon  themselves, 
just  in  the  same  degree  and  manner  as  Christians 
apply  that  of  Christ  42. 

Now  the  character  of  Mahomet  is  simply  a  human 
one,  of  the  earth  earthy,  disfigured  by  great  faults 
and  crimes  in  the  midst  of  great  virtues,  as  even  his 
admirers  confess"^,  by  inconsistencies  and  surprises, 

thy  earlier  and  later  faults."  In  Sura,  liii.  19,  he  first  made 
a  compromise  with  idolatry,  admitting  the  three  female  divinities 
of  the  Arabs  to  the  position  of  intercessors  with  God;  but  in 
a  iew  days  he  disowned  the  words  as  a  suggestion  of  Satan,  and 
described  the  idols  as  mere  empty  names  of  human  invention. 
In  Sura,  Ixxx.  (^'He  frowned"),  he  refers  to  his  own  harshness 
to  a  blind  enquirer.  His  last  fragmentary  words  are  thus  given 
by  Muir  {Life,  iv.  p.  279)  :  "  Lord,  grant  me  pardon,  and  join 
me  to  the  companionship  on  high"  (I  suppose  that  of  the  angel 

Gabriel) "  Eternity  in  Paradise."  .  .  .  .  "  Pardon  !   yes,  the 

blessed  companionship  on  high."  See  also  the  conversation  with 
Ayesha,  quoted  in  Mr.  E.  B.  Smith's  Mohammed,  p.  153,  ed.  2. 

^^  Pfleiderer,  Beligions  Philosophie,  pp.  641,  642,  quoting  Kremer, 
OescTiicUe  der  herrschenden  Ideen  des  Islam,  p.  156  ;  T.  P.  Hughes, 
Notes,  p.  13,  ed.  2.  Individual  Moslems  no  doubt  would  be  glad 
to  free  themselves  from  this  burden :  see  the  letter  of  Mir  Aulad 
Ali,  quoted  by  E.  Bosworth  Smith,  Mohammed,  p.  144,  note. 

^  The  most  prominent  admirer  of  Mahomet  in  this  country  (since 
Carlyle)  has  been  Mr.  R.  Bosworth  Smith,  whose  interesting  lec- 
tures are  in  everyone's  hands.  He  has  discussed  the  faults  of  his 
character,  and  the  nature  of  his  pretensions  (as  it  seems  to  me)  in 
much  too  lenient  a  spirit  in  his  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanis)n,  pp. 
142  foil.,  &c.,  ed.  2,  1876.  (Cp.  the  review  of  the  first  edition  by 
Dr.  G.  P.  Badger,  Cant.  Revieiv,  for  June,  1875,  vol.26,  pp.  87— 
102.)  Dr.  Th.  Noldeke  may  be  considered  an  apologist  of  Ma- 
homet, but  is  less  sympathetic  than  Mr.  Smith ;  see  his  article  s.v. 


VII.]  Character  of  Mahomet.  249 

by  sudden  collapses  and  passionate  outbreaks.  After 
living  with  comparative  strictness  up  to  the  age  of 
fifty-four,  for  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life  he  gave 
free  indulgence  to  his  passions".  Throughout  his  life 
he  was  guilty  of  occasional  acts  of  terrible  cruelty  and 
treachery^:  and,  over  and  above  this,  his  character 
is  darkened  by  a  still  more  awful  suspicion  of  im- 
posture, when  we  find  him  justifying  his  sins  by  the 
pretence  of  a  revelation  from  God  ^^. 

Muhammed  in  'Kerzo^^s  Encyclopcedia,  vol.  xviii.  pp.  797  foil,  (at  end 
of  letter  Z).,  and  cp.  his  Oeschichte  des  Qorans.  Mons.  J.  B,  St. 
Hilaire  may  also,  to  a  great  extent,  be  classed  among  his  admirers. 
Dr.  Sprenger  is  in  some  points  a  very  severe  judge  (cp.  Tiele's 
judgment.  Outlines  of  the  Hist,  of  Ancient  Religions,  §§  59  foil.). 
Sir  Wm.  Muir  holds  the  balance,  but  censures  strongly  the  latter 
part  of  his  life.  See  iv.  pp.  318  foil,  for  a  summary  of  his  moral 
declension  at  Medina,  which  has  been  denied,  but  without  sufficient 
ground.     Part  of  it  is  quoted  in  note  46. 

"  Mahomet  (b.  circa  570  a.d.,  d.  May,  632)  was  fifty  when  he  lost 
Khadija,  with  whom  he  had  lived  happily  and  faithfully  for  twenty- 
five  years.  After  a  month  he  married  another  wife  (Sawda) ;  and 
three  or  four  years  later,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four,  he  added  a  second, 
Ayesha,  a  child  of  ten  years  of  age.  In  less  than  five  years  follow- 
ing this  marriage  with  Ayesha,  he  brought  together  a  harem,  con- 
sisting of  nine  wives  and  two  concubines.  Ayesha  used  to  say, 
"  The  prophet  loved  three  things, — women,  scents,  and  food ;  he  had 
his  heart's  desire  of  the  two  first,  but  not  of  the  last."  Muir,  Life, 
iv.  p.  328.  Cp.  the  saying  of  Ibn  Abbas,  "  Verily,  the  chiefest 
among  the  Moslems  was  the  foremost  of  them  in  his  passion  for 
women,"  Ih.,  p.  310,  where  the  facts  are  summarized,  and  St. 
Hilaire,  pp.  170—176,  &c. 

**  These  were  specially  directed  against  the  Jews.  See  e.g.  the 
assassinations  in  a.d.  624,  after  the  battle  of  Badr  (Muir,  oh.  xiii. 
vol.  iii.  pp.  130  foil.),  and  the  massacre  of  the  Beni  Coreitza  in 
627  (Jhid.y  iii.  pp.  275  foil.).  Other  acts  of  cruelty,  perfidy,  and 
malice  are  mentioned  by  Muir,  iv.  pp.  307  foil. ;  cp.  Stobart,  Mam, 
pp.  158,  165,  &c. 

*®  Muir  says,  vol.  iv.  p.  318,  speaking  of  his  moral  declension  at 


250  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

Now  in  the  face  of  these  facts  it  is  impossible  to 
admit,  as  some  Christians  even  are  inclined  to  do, 
that  Mahomet  was  a  ''true  prophet ■*l"  This  is  a 
high  title  to  which  no  one  outside  the  range  of  the 
sacred  writers  of  our  revelation  has  as  yet  made  good 
his  claim.  "We  deny  it  to  Mahomet  on  very  simple 
grounds.  Not  because  he  was  a  sinner,  for  that  is 
common  to  men ;  but  because  being  a  sinner,  he  used 
his  position,  as  a  messenger  of  God,  to  cloak  and 
even  commend  his  sin,  and  so  made  God  the  author 
of  immorality.  The  reasonableness  of  this  criticism 
is  obvious.  When  a  man  puts  forward  so  grand  a 
pretension  as  that  of  being  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
Deity,  it  is  our  manifest  duty  to  apply  a  moral  test 
to  his  claims.  In  the  case,  indeed,  of  a  predictive 
prophecy,  the  natural  criterion  is  the  fulfilment  or 
not  of  what  is  foretold :  but  even  here  we  are  bound 
to  require  agreement  with  the  first  principles  of  re- 
ligion and  morality  ^^  But  in  the  case  of  didactic 
prophecy,  which  was  that  which  Mahomet  claimed 

Medina :  "  Messages  from  heaven  were  freely  brought  forward  to 
justify  his  political  conduct  equally  with  his  religious  precepts. 
Battles  were  fought,  wholesale  executions  inflicted,  and  territories 
annexed,  under  pretext  of  the  Almighty's  sanction.  Nay,  even 
baser  actions  were  not  only  excused,  but  encouraged,  by  the  pre- 
tended divine  approval  or  command ;  a  special  licence  was  produced 
allowing  Mahomet  a  double  number  of  wives  {Sura  xxxiii.  49); 
the  discreditable  affair  with  Mary,  the  Coptic  slave,  was  justified 
in  a  separate  Sura  (Ixvi.);  and  the  passion  for  the  wife  of  his  own 
adopted  son  and  bosom  friend  was  the  subject  of  an  inspired  message, 
in  which  the  Prophet's  scruples  were  rebuked  by  God,  a  divorce 
permitted,  and  marriage  with  the  object  of  his  unhallowed  desii'es 
enjoined  (Zeinab,  wife  of  Zaid,  see  S^(,ra  xxxiii.  36)." 

^^  See  R.  B.  Smith,  Mohammed,  ed.  2,  pp.  344,  345,  and  index. 

^  Cp.  Deuteronomy  xiii.  1 — 3. 


VII.]  3Iorallapse  of  MaJwmet.  251 

to  utter,  there  can  be  no  other  test  than  this  last ; 
and  nowhere  is  it  so  necessary  as  in  the  delicate  and 
crucial  .point  of  unselfishness  in  respect  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  prophet  himself.  A  single  lapse  in  this 
matter  is  enough  to  discredit  the  whole  message,  so 
far  as  it  goes  beyond  the  elements  of  truth  already 
current  in  the  world.  These,  of  course,  will  remain 
true  in  any  case,  but  a  mere  enunciation  of  old  truths, 
in  however  emphatic  language,  does  not  constitute 
a  prophet. 

A  lapse  of  this  kind,  below  the  supposed  prophet's 
own  moral  standard  and  the  standard  of  his  day,  is 
quite  a  different  thing  from  the  incompleteness  of  a 
confessedly  preparatory  system,  like  that  of  Judaism. 
It  is  reasonable,  for  instance,  to  defend  the  permission 
of  acts  of  imperfect  morality  (such  as  the  Mosaic  Law 
of  divorce),  or  the  utterance  of  commands  which  are 
suitable  to,  and  possible  in,  one  age,  but  could  not  be 
enjoined  in  another  (such  as  the  extermination  of  the 
Canaanites,  Elijah's  calling  down  fire  on  the  captains, 
and  the  like)  ^^.  "What  we  are  bound  to  insist  upon 
from  every  one  who  claims  to  be  a  prophet  is  this — 
that,  while  he  definitely  advances  religion  and  mo- 
rality in  general,  he  should  never  fall  behind  the 
standard  of  his  own  age  in  particular.  Some  parts 
of  his  message  or  legislation  may  become  obsolete ; 
some  actions  of  his  may  not  bear  repetition  in  a  later 

*^  See  on  this  topic  in  general,  Dr.  Mozley's  Old  Testament 
Lectures.  The  principle  of  St.  Augustine,  which  he  adopts,  requires 
careful  handling,  but  seems  essentially  contained  in  our  Lord's 
judgment  on  Moses  and  Elijah,  Matt.  v.  31,  xix.  8  foil. ;  Luke  ix. 
54  foil,  (where  the  thought  appears  to  be  the  same  whatever 
reading  is  accepted.) 


253  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

stage  of  progress,  but  his  teaching  will  never  be  ab- 
solutely immoral  or  retrogressive,  as  some  Suras  of 
the  Koran  confessedly  are  ^^. 

The  appearance  of  such  elements  in  a  man's  teach- 
ing are  like  the  symptoms  of  a  secret  plague  or  fever. 
The  rest  of  the  body  may  be  fair  to  outward  view, 
but  when  we  see  these  few  signs  of  a  decidedly 
morbid  character,  we  know  that  there  is  a  want  of 
healthiness  in  the  whole.  Mahomet's  selfish  misuse 
of  God's  name  proves  that  he  was  not  a  true  pro- 
phet: and  having  these  marks  to  guide  us,  we  can 
go  on  to  trace  the  falseness  which  runs  through 
the  whole  of  his  system. 

How  far  he  was  himself  deceived  is  a  much  more 
difficult  question,  though  it  need  not  detain  us  long 
in  this  place.  He  had  certainly  a  strong  belief  in 
his  own  mission,  and  spoke  proudly  of  his  truth- 
fulness;  but  Arab  morality  was  lax  on  this  point, 

^  Any  attempt  that  might  be  made  to  defend  the  action  of 
Mahomet,  by  a  parallel  with  the  vindication  of  Moses  for  his 
marriage  with  the  Ethiopian  woman  (in  Numlers  xii.),  breaks 
down  at  once,  since  there  is  no  proof  that  Moses  did  anything  at 
all  worthy  of  censure,  though  he  offended  his  brother's  and  sister's 
jealousy  or  prejudice.  The  vindication,  it  may  be  also  observed, 
did  not  at  first  proceed  from  the  mouth  of  Moses.  Mr.  Bosworth 
Smith  suggests  that  it  was  a  justification  which  Mahomet  may 
have  made  to  himself,  but  does  not  quote  it  as  a  positive  apology 
for  him  (p.  134).  His  half-parallel  with  our  Saviour's  breaking 
the  Pharisaic  law  of  the  Sabbath  (p.  144),  seems  to  me  to  have 
a  more  dangerous  tendency.  To  alter  a  ceremonial  law,  or  to 
elevate  and  strengthen  a  law  of  conduct,  is  a  recognized  function 
of  a  Prophet,  not  to  make  the  law  bend  to  his  own  pleasure  or 
advantage.  If  our  Lord  had  done  the  latter,  no  pious  Jew  could 
have  accepted  Him.  The  Pharisees  might  perhaps  have  done  so 
more  willingly. 


VII.]  Mahomet  not  a  true  Prophet.  253 

and  included  a  serious  admiration  for  cunning,  espe- 
cially in  a  good  cause,  and  Mahomet  was  above  all 
things  a  genuine  Arab.  In  his  later  days  he  was 
the  victim,  probably,  of  his  own  reputation,  and  of 
that  power  over  the  minds  of  his  followers  which  is 
so  hard  a  strain  upon  the  morality  of  even  the  most 
pious  enthusiasts.  Even  in  his  best  days  he  had 
probably  been  working  for  himself  quite  as  much 
as  for  God.  As  long  as  he  was  moving  upward  he 
could  practise  self-restraint :  but  success  demoralized 
him,  as  it  has  demoralized  his  followers  ever  since. 
He  thought  (as  we  have  seen)  that  God  is  lenient  and 
forgiving,  like  a  large-minded  and  sagacious  man  who 
knows  the  world,  and  so  he  forgave  himself  in  the 
name  of  God  for  faults  which  all  the  time  he  knew 
to  be  faults.  The  whole  matter  is  of  a  piece  with 
his  defective  theology,  his  unworthy  conception  of 
the  Deity,  and  his  defective  idea  of  sin.  Hence  it 
came  about  that  he  who,  in  his  earlier  years,  had 
cancelled  a  revelation  which  his  conscience  told  him 
was  a  sinful  compromise  with  idolatry  ^^,  could  in  his 
later  age  give  himself  selfish  privileges,  and  justify 
immoral  acts  with  unmoved  and  serene  composure. 

That  Mahomet,  in  great  measure  ^^  extirpated 
idolatry,  and  introduced  certain  reforms  into  the  wild 
and  lawless  social  life  of  Arabia,  is  doubtless  true. 
That  he  and  his  followers  have  been  a  scourge  per- 
mitted by  God  upon  a  corrupted  Christianity,  is  also 

"  Sura  liii.  19.     See  above,  note  41. 

"  Some  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  kissing 
the  Kaaba,  »&;c.,  are  a  clear  survival  and  incorporation  of  a  partial 
idolatry,  notwithstanding  all  his  protestations. 


254  The  Natural  Desire  for  Veace.  [Lect. 

probable.  But  here  our  gratitude  to  him,  such  as  it 
is,  must  cease.  Wherever  Islam  has  prevailed  for 
any  length  of  time,  it  has  had  the  following  threefold 
ill  effects:  1.  It  has  stereotyped  a  low  and  unpro- 
gressive  form  of  social  life;  2.  it  has  paralyzed  the 
intellectual,  and  especially  the  religious,  development 
of  mankind ;  3.  it  has  been  a  barrier  against  the 
Gospel  ^^. 

1.  Had  Mahomet  been  contented  with  the  position 
of  a  legislator,  or  tribal  chief,  he  would  have  left  the 
way  open  for  further  improvement;  he  would  have 
made  a  beginning  which  othei-s  might  have  carried 
on ;  and  so  mankind  would  have  been  the  gainers, 
though  his  own  success  might  have  been  less  rapid. 
Had  he  been  sufficiently  humble  to  use  the  sources 
open  to  him  in  the  Bible,  even  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  much  more  in  the  iN'ew,  his  reforms  might  have 
been  of  permanent  value.  But  he  would  follow  nei- 
ther of  these  courses.  He  chose  to  be  a  prophet,  and 
above  all  things  the  last  of  the  prophets,  possessed 
of  a  final  revelation.  Though  acknowledging  himself 
a  sinner,  he  set  himself  practically  above  the  sinless 
Jesus.  He  shut  his  eyes  to  the  real  contents  of  the 
Bible,  and  (it  is  said)  would  not  permit  his  followers 
to  read  it  ^ ;  and  consequently  he  condemned  a  great 
part  of  mankind  to  live  in  a  permanently  unpro- 
gressive,  or  rather  retrogressive,  social  state.  It 
was  worthy  of  a  legislator  to  prevent  the  barbarous 

^^  This  is  Sir  "W.  Muir's  judgment,  Life,  vol.  iv.  pp.  321  foil. 
Cp.  Mr.  T.  P.  Hughes,  Notes,  preface,  ed.  2,  pp.  xi.,  xii. 

^  This  is  stated  by  the  Rev.  Imad-ud-deen,  pp.  10,  11,  of  his 
Autobiography,  already  quoted. 


YIL]  Retrogressive  social  Legislation.  255 

murder  of  female  infants,  to  forbid  certain  gross 
crimes  ^^,  .  to  set  limits  to  polygamy  ^'^j  to  make  di- 
vorce less  frequent  by  requiring  the  restitution  of 
the  dowry  ^'''j  and  to  ameliorate  in  other  ways  the 
legal  condition  of  women  and  slaves.  All  this  Ma- 
homet did,  or  tried  to  do ;  though  after  all  it  is  pro- 
bable that  women  "possessed  more  freedom,  and 
exercised  a  healthier  and  more  legitimate  influence 
under  the  pre-existing  institutions  of  Arabia  ^^"  But 
to  incorporate  and  establish  polygamy,  concubinage, 
and  slavery,  and  a  general  low  treatment  and  estimate 
of  women  in  a  revelation  professing  to  be  final,  the 
last,  best,  and  most  merciful  utterance  of  God  to  man, 
is  to  inflict  a  terrible  curse  upon  society.  If  Mahomet 
did  not  listen  to  the  revelations  of  Genesis  or  the 
Gospel,  he  could  hardly  be  unaware  of  what  was 
known  to  the  heathen,  and  what  his  own  earlier  life 
might  have  taught  him,  that  a  divided  household 
cannot  be  the  home  of  moral  worth  and  of  mutual 
respect  and  support,  in  the  same  way  that  the  union 
of  a  single  pair  should  and  may  be.  Sallust,  for  in- 
stance, writes  as  justly  as  a  Christian  on  the  evils 

*^  Such  as  the  inheritance  by  the  son  of  his  father's  wives ;  see 
Sura  iv.  26.     He  allowed  it,  however,  in  cases  already  existing. 

^  Sura  iv.  3.  No  restriction,  however,  is  put  on  the  number  of 
slave  concubines  {Sura  Ixx.  30,  iv.  28);  and  divorce  or  exchange 
is  so  easy,  that  the  legal  value  of  the  restriction  is  very  slight. 

"  But  a  man  is,  as  it  were,  invited  to  put  pressure  on  his  wife 
to  remit  her  rights  in  this  respect;  Sura  iv.  3  and  28.  Cp. 
Dr.  Mozley's  remarks  on  this  ignoble  feature  of  the  legislation, 
Miracles,  Lect.  vii.  note  1.  p.  283. 

^*  Sir  Wm.  Muir,  Life,  vol.  iii.  p.  305,  where  are  some  important 
remarks  on  the  Moslem  idea  of  marriage,  which  he  thinks  less 
sound,  in  a  very  marked  degree,  than  the  Hindu. 


256  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

of  Moorish  polygamy: — "Animus  multitudine  dis- 
trahitur :  nuUam  pro  socia  obtinet :  pariter  omnes 
viles  sunt  ^^"  In  such  unions  all  the  harem  become 
equally  contemptible,  or  if  one  is  specially  favoured, 
obvious  injury  is  done  to  the  rest;  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  man  or  woman  loses  the  most  terribly  by 
the  degradation  which  follows.  Social  life  is  poi- 
soned at  its  roots. 

2.  The  paralysing  influence  of  Islam  upon  the  re- 
ligious and  intellectual  development  of  mankind  is 
sufficiently  obvious  in  the  present  state  of  countries 
under  Mahometan  government.  It  has  not,  indeed, 
always  been  so.  In  the  stir  of  conquest,  or  first  con- 
version, and  the  years  which  immediately  succeed  it, 
there  has  been  also  a  movement  of  mind  and  heart. 
But  whenever  the  sword  has  been  long  laid  down, 
when  the  novelty  of  the  change  to  monotheism  has 
passed  away,  then  comes  the  dreary  record  of  decay, 
of  shutting  up  the  intellect,  of  hardening  the  heart. 
When  Mahomet  closed  the  Bible,  he  closed  the 
source  of  intellectual,  as  well  as  of  moral  light.  He 
put  a  crude,  dull,  rambling,  inconsistent,  often  coarse 
and  selfish  rhapsody,  with  no  ideas  at  all  upon  some 
of  the  deepest  questions  that  interest  and  agitate  the 
conscience,  with  no  depth  of  insight  into  the  working 
of  the  soul,  into  the  place  of  the  divine  Book;  and 
he  put  his  own  sinful  and  narrow  character  into  the 
place  of  the  inexhaustible  riches  of  Christ's  example. 
Let  anyone  try  to   read  the  Koran  through,  making 

^^  Sallust,  de  hello  Jugurthino  [chap.  80],  quoted  by  J.  W.  H. 
Stobart,  Islam,  p.  229,  where  are  some  other  good  remarks  on  this 
subject. 


YIL]      Islam  opposed  to  Liherbj  and  the  Gospel.     257 

allowances  for  the  greater  beauty  of  the  original,  and 
let  him  thick  of  the  effect  upon  himself  of  taking  it 
as  an  unsurpassable  model,  the  great  treasure-house 
of  wisdom.  Let  him  then  read  the  life  of  Mahomet, 
and  the  laws  and  customs  which  have  grown  up, 
partly  from  the  Koran,  partly  from  tradition,  and 
he  will  understand  the  deadening  effects  of  Islam 
upon  the  soul,  and  its  utter  antagonism  to  liberty 
of  any  kind «". 

3.  The  opposition  of  Islam  to  the  Gospel  follows 
directly  from  the  precepts  and  practice  of  Mahomet, 
and  by  implication  from  its  retrogressive  morality 
and  unspiritual  narrowness.  It  is  much  indeed  that 
we  have  certain  fundamental  points  in  common  with 
Moslems,  their  monotheism,  ignorant  and  unloving 
as  it  is,  their  deep  belief  in  the  reality  of  revela- 
tion, though  it  has  armed  their  hands  against  man- 
kind, and  their  reverence  for  the  Lord  Jesus  ^^,  super- 
ficial and  unpractical  as  it  has  always  been.  But  as 
long  as  they  believe  the  Koran,  they  are  bound  to 
hold  that  Christ  is  not  the  Son  of  God  {8ura  xix. 
31 — 36),  that  He  was  never  crucified,  but  was  re- 
presented by  one  in  His  likeness  (Sura  iv.  156),  and 
that  He  is  no  other  than  a  servant  whoiti  God  fa- 
voured with    the  gift  of  prophecy  {Sura  xliii.  59), 

^  Carlyle's  condemnation  of  the  "insupportable  stupidity"  of 
the  Koran  is  remarkable  in  one  who  chose  Mahomet  as  his  type 
of  the  ''hero  as  Prophet:"  see  his  Heroes^  &c.,  pp.  76,  77,  in 
vol.  xii,  of  his  collected  works.  For  the  traditions,  we  may  refer 
to  Major  R.  D,  Osborn,  Muhammcdan  Law,  its  Growth  and  Charac- 
ter, in  Contemp.  Review,  vols.  29  and  30,  May  and  June,  1877. 

^'  "Devout  Musalmans  never  mention  tlie  name  of  Scyyedna 
Eesa,  or  our  Lord  Jesus,  without  adding  the  words,  '  on  whom  be 
peace.' " — E.  B.  Smith,  1.  c,  p.  267. 


258  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

and  is  not  to  be  associated  in  that  worship  which 
is  due  to  God  only  [Sura  ix.  31)  ^^. 

It  seems  hopeless,  then,  to  expect  (as  IS'eander 
and  others  incline  to  do)  that  Islam  will  be  to  many 
''a  theistic  medium  of  transition  from  idolatry,  at 
its  very  lowest  stages,  to  the  only  genuine  theism 
of  Christianity  ^^."  On  the  contrary,  one  of  the 
greatest  dangers  to  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
rapid  conversion  of  some  of  the  lower  races  to  Islam, 
which  attracts  them  by  its  one  broad  view  of  mono- 
theism, by  its  external  discipline,  and  the  alliance 
which  it  offers  with  something  like  a  world-wide 
power ;  while  it  makes  few  demands  upon  the  heart, 
legalises  and  justifies  a  low  social  morality,  and 
actually  destroys  the  sense  of  sin  which  before 
existed  ^^  It  offers  a  simple  theory  of  the  universe 
which  enables  a  man  to  make  the  easiest  possible 
compromise  between  religion  and  selfishness,  and  to 
suppose  that  there  is  nothing  higher  to  be  found. 

Pride  of  self,  satisfaction  in  having  attained  the 
truth,  and  being  able  to  look  down  on  others,  is 
a  strong  feeling,  I  suppose,  with  most  Moslems ;  and 
next  to  this  is  a  worship  of  success,  ''a  belief  that 
all  the  enjoyments  of  sense  are  the  rightful  heritage 
of  the  faithful,  who  dare  to  seize  them  %"  and  there- 
with a  strong  hold  on  the  things  of  this  world,  and 

^  The  passages  of  the  Koran  relating  to  our  Saviour,  are  col- 
lected in  Stobart's  Islam,  pp.  142 — 146. 

*'  Neander,  Church  History,  Tol.  v.  pp.  120  foil.,  ed.  Bohn,  1851. 

**  This  is,  I  have  reason  to  think,  the  opinion  of  Bp.  Steere, 
and  the  result  of  his  experience  of  negro  conversion  to  Islam. 

"  See  Sir  Bartle  Frere's  Lecture,  Christianity  suited  to  all  Forms 
of  Civilization,  in  Chr.  Evidence  Lectures,  series  2;  p.  336. 


VII.]  Hojjelessness  of  Islam.  259 

bitter  hostility  to  all  who  oppose  their  rule,  or  weaken 
it  by  desertion.  Wherever  Moslems  are  the  domi- 
nant race,  their  conversion  seems  all  but  hopeless; 
only  when  pride  has  been  broken,  when  success  is 
turned  into  failure,  and  the  need  of  toleration  is  ex- 
perienced in  their  own  case,  then  there  may  be  some 
hope  that  the  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world 
may  appear  to  them  in  a  fairer  and  more  attrac- 
tive form.  The  failure  of  Islam  to  benefit  mankind  is, 
as  we  have  seen,  specially  traceable  to  its  assumption 
of  finality  and  to  its  imposition  of  a  harsh,  one-sided 
legislation,  under  colour  of  a  new  Gospel.  As  an 
attempt  to  give  happiness  to  society  against  its  will 
by  means  of  religion,  it  is  simply  pernicious.  Ma- 
homet is  essentially  one  of  those  false  prophets  de- 
nounced in  Scripture,  who  heal  the  trouble  of  the 
human  heart  "  slightly,"  and  who  cry  "  Peace,  peace," 
when  there  is  no  peace. 

(3.)  We  now  turn  to  a  third  answer  to  the  grave 
question,  "How  can  religion  best  influence  society?" 
The  true  principle  is  no  doubt,  "  Let  speculative 
truth  and  religious  order  unite  in  one  community; 
let  entrance  into  it  be  voluntary,  and  let  its  influ- 
ence upon  politics  be  that  of  persuasion,  not  of 
force."  The  success  of  those  who  give  this  answer 
must,  of  course,  depend  on  the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  their  doctrine ;  but  outside  Christianity,  they  have 
a  dangerous  tendency  to  become  anti-social.  We 
have  not  opportunity  to  do  more  than  touch  very 
lightly  on  the  minor  experiments  which  have  been 
made  in  this  direction,  especially  as  many  of  them 
are  really  insignificant,  while  others   are   shrouded 


260  The  Natural  Desire  for  Veace,  [Lect. 

in  an  intentional  obscurity.  Secrecy  has  been  the 
besetting  and  ruinous  fault  of  the  great  number  of 
these  voluntary  religious  bodies.  Nothing  is  more 
certain  than  the  value  of  the  Christian  maxim, 
adopted  as  fundamental  by  the  Positivists,  that  it 
is  right  to  "  live  openly  '"^."  Secret  societies,  for 
the  most  part,  have  been  viewed  by  outsiders  either 
with  exaggerated  prejudice  or  with  exaggerated  re- 
spect ;  while  their  members  have  been  too  apt  to 
consider  themselves  above  or  outside  the  laws  of 
open  life.  Secrecy  produces  a  sort  of  delicious  in- 
toxication, a  greedy  delight  in  the  sweetness  of 
"  stolen  waters,"  which  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous 
of  human  passions  ;  and  these  associations  are  apt  to 
be  distorted  from  their  legitimate  ends  into  centres 
of  conspiracy  or  refuges  of  immorality.  Thus  the 
Areoi  of  Polynesia,  the  depositaries  of  sacred  lore 
and  literary  culture,  the  members  of  which  are  in- 
vested with  a  sort  of  divinity  in  this  life,  and  with 
a  claim  to  happiness  after  death,  have  become  ab- 
solutely  immoral  ^'^.      The  Pythagorean  confraterni- 

««  Matt.  V.  14  foil.:  "Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world,"  &c. 
John  xviii.  20:  "I  spake  openly  to  the  world,"  &c.  1  Thess.  v. 
22  :  **  Abstain  from  all  appearance  of  evil."  (Eev.  vers.,  "  every 
form"  with  "appearance"  in  margin.)  2  Cor.  viii.  21  :  "Pro- 
viding for  honest  things,  not  only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  but 
also  in  the  sight  of  men."  1  John  i.  7 :  "  If  we  walk  in  the 
light,  as  He  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with  another." 
Cp.  ^om.  xii.  17;  xiii.  13  ;  1  Pet.  ii.  12,  &c.  Comte  especially 
applies  it  to  political  life,  Positive  Polity,  E.  T.,  vol.  iv.  p.  400. 

*^  The  Areoi  of  Tahiti  and  other  islands  were  clubs  of  men  and 
women,  living  licentiously  together,  and  bound  by  the  rule  of  kill- 
ing all  their  children.  They  went  about  giving  dramatic  repre- 
sentations of  dance  and   song,  and  in   this  way  have   preserved 


VII.]  Character  of  Secret  Societies.  261 

ties  of  Magna  Graecia,  on  the  other  hand,  though  we 
hear  nothing  but  what  is  favourable  of  their  moral 
aims,  were  suspected,  perhaps  with  some  reason,  of 
political  agitation,  and  were  crushed  by  violence  ^^ 
Their  most  enduring  effects  may  probably  be  found 
in  the  influence  which  they  exercised  upon  the  mind 
of  Plato,  whose  ideal  of  a  state  is  made  up  in  great 
measure  of  elements  drawn  from  the  two  chief  at- 
tempts to  mould  human  life  on  Dorian  principles, 
the  constitution  of  Lycurgus  and  the  life  of  these 
Pythagorean  brotherhoods*'^.  Of  the  Orphic  and 
other  societies  connected  with  the  mysteries,  we 
know  comparatively  little.  The  idea  that  they  were 
centres  of  high  dogmatic  instruction  has  long  been 
given  up  by  scholars,  but  what  they  actually  were 
is  less  easy  to  estimate™.     At  their  best  they  repre- 

much  of  the  old  mythology.  For  a  collection  of  what  is  known 
about  them  from  Cook,  Ellis,  Wilson,  Moerenhout,  &c.,  see  Waitz, 
Anthropologie  der  Naturv'olker,  vol.  vi.  pp.  363 — 369,  ed.  Gerland 
(Leipzig,  1872).  He  finds  the  origin  of  the  association  in  devo- 
tion to  Oro,  the  ruler  of  souls  after  death,  and  in  the  hope  of  fu- 
ture happiness,  p.  368.  Cp.  Gerland,  Aussterbung  der  iV.  V.,  p.  47 
(Leipz.,  1868). 

^®  What  is  known  about  the  Pythagorean  societies  has  been  put 
together  by  Zeller,  Pre-Socratic  Philosophy,  vol.  i.  pp.  342  foil.,  tr. 
by  S.  F.  Alleyne  (Lond.,  1881).  The  fullest  collection  of  Pytha- 
gorean fragments  is  given  by  Mullach,  Fragnienta  Fhilosophorum 
Graicorum,  vol.  i.  (Paris). 

^^  See  on  this  point  Prof.  Jowett's /V«ifo,  vol.  iii.  pp.  153  foil., 
ed.  2,  1875.  The  actual  legislation  of  Lycurgus  is  described  by 
Grote,  Ilist.  of  Greece,  vol.  ii.  pp.  145—156,  ed.  of  1862.  For 
its  influence,  both  on  Plato  and  Aiistotle,  see  p.  154. 

■"'  Lobeck's  Aglaophamus  (in  three  books,  \.  Eleusinia;  2.  Or- 
phica  ;  3.  Samothracia)  has  done  great  service  in  criticizing  and 
exposing  the  pretensions  which  many  modern  writers  had  made 
in  behalf  of  the  mysteries,  but  it  hardly  enables  us  to  understand 


262  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

sent  the  vague  theology  of  music,  that  spirit  which 
reaches  forward  into  the  darkness,  and  draws  a  won- 
dering crowd  along  with  it,  solaced  now  with  rap- 
turous gleams  of  light,  and  now  oppressed  with 
melancholy  and  unintelligible  sadness.  The  myth 
of  Orpheus  tells  us  of  one  who  has  actually  been 
into  the  land  of  Hades,  and  has  nearly,  but  not  quite, 
succeeded  in  bringing  back  his  darling.  It  lifts  the 
veil  only  to  drop  it  again.  The  mysteries  were  in 
like  manner  occupied  principally  with  dramatic  pic- 
tures, representing  two  tales  of  the  lower  world :  one 
of  Demeter  looking  for  her  daughter  Proserpine,  who 
has  been  snatched  from  her  by  Pluto ;  the  other, 
that  of  Dionysus-Zagreus,  the  infant  son  of  Zeus, 
who  has  been  torn  to  pieces  and  buried,  and  whose 
limbs  are  again  brought  together  on  the  breast  of 
Demeter, — a  myth  closely  akin  to  that  of  Osiris '^^ 
That  these  mysteries  were  moral  in  any  real  degree 
is  very  improbable,  their  ascetic  prescriptions  were 
external,   and  often   unmeaning   or   fantastic''^,    but 

the  real  character  of  these  celebrated  rites.  A  more  constructive 
account  of  the  Eleusinia  will  be  found  in  Preller's  Oriechische  My- 
thologie,  i.  pp.  645 — 655,  cp.  ii.  487  foil,  on  the  Orphica  (Berlin, 
1872).  The  same  subjects  are  treated  at  length  by  Dollinger, 
Heidentlmm,  book  iii.,  die  Mysterien  und  die  Orphische  HeliyiotiS' 
lehre.  See  also  Grote's  Greece,  vol.  i.  pp.  15 — 37.  In  these  books 
the  reader  will  find  all  necessary  references. 

'1  Crete  was  probably  the  medium  through  which  Egyptian 
theology  first  passed  into  Greece  :  see  Dollinger,  p.  129.  Epi- 
menides,  the  Cretan  Orphic  priest,  was  invited  to  Athens  as  early 
as  B.C.  612  (others  say  596),  to  cleanse  the  city  from  the  stain  of 
Kylon's  murder.  See  ib.,  p.  132.  The  identification  of  Dionysus- 
Zagreus  with  a  bull  also  naturally  reminds  us  of  Osiris-Apis. 

'^  For  the  prescriptions  of  the  "  Orpliic  life,"  we  may  compare 
the  chorus  of  Euripides'  Minos,  quoted  by  Porphyfius  de  Absiitien- 


YII.]  The  Mysteries.  263 

they  served  to  keep  up  an  aspiration  after  a  future 
life,  and  sometimes  comforted  mourners.  Yet  even 
this  comfort  was  degraded  by  the  contempt  expressed 
for  the  uninitiated,  who,  without  any  fault  of  their 
own,  were  doomed  to  a  lower  place  in  another 
world  ^^. 

Besides  these  better-known  societies,  there  were 
a  number  of  smaller  guilds,  founded  usually  on  some 
foreign  cult,  or  fanciful  and  almost  accidental  enthu- 
siasm, which  had  great  vogue  among  the  lower  classes 
in  Greece'^'*,  and  would  have  developed  at  least  as 

tia,  iy.  19,  The  bull  representing  Zagreus  was  torn  in  pieces,  and 
his  flesh  eaten  raw,  a  sort  of  act  of  communion  with  the  deity,  by 
which  rebirth  was  assured.  But  after  this,  abstinence  from  animal 
food  was  enjoined, — an  idea  probably  connected  with  a  doctrine  of 
transmigration.  The  Pythagorean  prohibition  of  eating  beans  was 
also  Egyptian  in  character  (Herod.,  ii.  37). 

"  Like  the  Areoi,  those  devoted  to  the  gods  of  Hades  in  this 
life  were  supposed  to  be  their  special  favourites  after  death.  See 
the  passages  in  Lobeck,  pp.  69  foil.,  and  Bollinger,  pp.  175  foil. 
The  following  is  one  of  the  most  important,  Horn.  Hymn,  in  Cere- 
rem,  480  foil.  :— 

ok^ios  OS  TaS'  oTTCoirfv  imxdovioiv  dvdpoincou' 
OS  8'  dreXTjr  iepiou  os  r   unfj-opos,  oviroB"  ofxolcos 
ala-av  e'xei  (^Qiixivos  iTfp  vno  fo'0a)  evpaeuTi. 
Plutarch  Be  aiidiendis  Foetis,  4  (tom.  ii.  p.  21,=  vol.  i.  p.  81, 
Wytt.),  quotes  a  story  of  Diogeues  ridiculing  the  distinction  of 
initiated  and  uninitiated  ;  but  he  refers  to  the  hope  given  by  the 
mysteries  in  his  letter  of  Coiisolation  to  his  tvife  on  the  death  of 
their  daughter  Timoxena,  ch.  10  (tom.  ii.  p.  611  =  vol.  3,  p.  464, 
Wytt.). 

^*  The  best  authority  on  this  subject  is  P.  Poucart  (now  Presi- 
dent of  the  Prench  Archa3ological  School  at  Athens).  Les  Associa- 
tions Religieuses  chcz  les  Grecs  (Paris,  1873).  The  most  important 
existing  document  on  these  societies  is  the  inscription  of  Andania 
in  Messenia,  B.C.  93,  which  may  be  found  in  P.  Cauer's  Delectus 
Inscr.  Grcccarum,  pp.  19—27  (Leipzig,  1877),  and  elsewhere. 


264  TJic  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

largely  in  Italy  but  for  the  jealousy  of  Eoman  law- 
yers and  statesmen,  who  perhaps  tried  to  reduce 
them  to  the  position  of  mere  burial  -  clubs '^^  All 
had  the  great  merit  of  being  free  associations  for 
a  religious  end,  and  as  such  they  admitted  women, 
slaves,  and  foreigners  to  participate  in  their  benefits ; 
and  most  of  them  had  a  special  tendency  to  give 
a  more  distinct  hope  of  a  future  life,  a  hope  which 
was  closely  connected  with  their  provisions  for  de- 
cent and  careful  funeral  rites.  They  had  besides, 
something  of  a  sacramental  system,  joining  rich  and 
poor  in  common  worship  and  in  a  common  festal 
meal;  while  some  of  them  assisted  their  members 
by  loans  of  money  without  interest,  and  in  this  way 
took,  in  some  slight  degree,  the  place  of  our  modern 
benevolent  institutions. 

On  the  other  hand,  their  importance  and  charitable 
influence  have  been  often  exaggerated '^'',  sometimes 
with  a  polemical  intention  of  depreciating  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  It  is  also  clear  that  too  many  of  them, 
if  not  immoral  in  principle,  put  no  real  check  on 
immorality,  but  rather  gave  scope  for  it  in  their 
nightly  meetings  and  promiscuous  assemblages,  and 
that  they  were  fruitful  sources  of  superstition,  satis- 

"  On  the  Eoman  guilds  see  Th.  Mommsen  de  CoUcgiis  et  Sodal- 
iciis  (Kilia3,  1843).  The  attempt  to  check  their  growth  is  clear, 
but  it  is  conjectured,  rather  than  demonstrated,  that  only  burial- 
clubs  were  permitted  :  see  Mommsen,  1.  c,  pp.  88  foil.  Renan 
assumes  this  too  absolutely  as  proved,  les  Apotres,  pp.  355,  356, 
ed.  1,  1866. 

"  As  by  Eenan,  les  Apotres,  pp.851  foil.,  following  "Wescher. 
These  exaggerations  are  well  criticized  by  Foucart,  1.  c,  ch.  xv. 
pp.  139  foil. 


VII.]  Private  Guilds  and  Biirial-cluhs.  265 

fying  their  members  by  formal  purifications  and  in- 
cantations, without  any  evidence  of  change  of  heart. 
Every  little  accident  of  domestic  life  sent  the  super- 
stitious man  or  woman  to  the  Orphic  or  Oriental 
mystery-monger,  who  was  frequently  the  centre  of 
such  a  confraternity.  For  two  obols  they  could  get 
a  prediction  on  any  future  event,  large  or  small,  se 
rious  or  ridiculous.  A  philtre  or  a  conjuration  of 
evil  came  with  equal  readiness.  The  wills  of  gods 
and  men  were  supposed  to  be  subject  to  the  meanest 
class  of  magicians,  and  we  know  (sometimes  by  ac- 
tual experience  in  our  own  country)  the  miserable 
degradation  that  follows. 

All  these  societies,  however  interesting  to  the 
student  of  antiquity,  are  but  insignificant  and  ephe- 
meral when  compared  with  the  great  movement  of 
Eastern  Asia,  which  still  numbers  as  its  adherents 
perhaps  500  millions  of  mankind  ^'^.  Buddhism  is 
the  only  voluntary  association,  or  church  of  believers, 
which  can  be  at  all  compared  with  Christianity  as 
to  the  purity  and  loftiness  of  its  moral  teaching, 
at  least  in  details,  or  as  to  its  power  of  expansion. 
It  no  longer  exists  indeed  in  India,  the  country  of 
its  birth,  where  it  was  extinguished  dfter  many 
centuries,  partly  by  internal  decay,  partly  (it  is 
thought)  by  persecution  ''^.    But  as  early  as  the  third 

"  See  above,  p.  92. 

'^  This  extinction  took  place  gradually,  between  the  7th  and 
12th  centuries  a.d.,  when  the  last  blow  was  given  by  Moslem  con- 
quest. What  little  is  known  of  these  events  is  told  in  Eh\s 
Davids'  Buddhism,  pp.  242  foil.  The  later  history  of  Buddhism 
in  India  is  extracted  almost  entirely  from  the  travels  of  three 
Chinese  pilgrims,  Fan  Hian,  a.d.  400;   Sung  Yun,  a.d.  518;    and 


266  The  Natural  Desire  for  Veace,  [Lect. 

century  B.C.  it  had  spread  to  Ceylon,  whence  it  was 
propagated  to  Burma  and  Siam,  the  three  countries 
which  retain  it  in  its  most  original  form,  and  where 
it  is  still  the  national  belief.  Its  introduction  into 
China  was  not  much  later,  and  in  the  fourth  century 
of  our  era  it  became  the  State  religion,  and  is  now 
professed  in  some  form  or  other  by  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  people.  From  China  it  made  its 
way  to  Corea  and  Japan,  and  other  islands,  losing 
no  doubt  many  of  its  original  features,  but  still  re- 
taining much  that  is  characteristic. 

!N'orthern  Buddhism  in  Tibet  is  of  later  growth, 
and  has  suffered  much  greater  alteration,  taking  the 
form  of  the  worship  of  a  living  Buddha, — the  Dalai 
Lama,  and  being  mixed  up  with  much  eclectic  su- 
perstition, while  in  Nepal  it  has  formed  a  sort  of 
fusion'  with  the  worship  of  xS'iva. 

In  view  of  this  immense  outward  success,  we  natu- 
rally ask  the  reasons  of  such  a  wide  expansion  ?  We 
shall  find  them  perhaps  equally  in  the  truth  and  the 
falsehood  of  Buddhist  principles.  On  the  one  side 
there  are  the  two  great  verities,  that  religious  asso- 
ciation should  be  voluntary  and  open  to  all  men,  and 
that  moral  conduct  conduces  to  happiness  or  misery 
more  absolutely  than  anything  else.  The  dignity  of 
human  nature  is,  in  fact,  the  basis  of  all  that  is  good 
in  Buddhism.     Caste  is  abolished,  women   are   ad- 

Hiouen  Thsang,  a.d.  629 — 648,  translated  by  Eemusat,  Beal,  Sta- 
nislas Julien,  and  others.  Mods.  A,  Earth,  in  his  remarkable  article 
on  Indian  religions  (in  Lichtenberger's  Encydop.  des  Sciences  Reli- 
gieuses,  vol.  vi.  pp.  571  foil.,  Paris,  1879),  traces  the  decay  of  Bud- 
dhism to  its  own  '  senility '  rather  than  to  persecution.  Proofs  of 
the  latter  certainly  appear  slight. 


VII.]  Success  of  Buddhism.  267 

mitted  to  the  society,  a  mass  of  superstition  is  lifted 
from  the  mind,  and  the  moral  law  (especially  that 
which  answers  to  the  second  half  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments) is  re-asserted  with  a  force  and  persuasive- 
ness that  no  other  system,  except  the  Christian,  can 
shew.  Man's  free-will  to  do  right  or  to  do  wrong,  not 
any  external  fate,  not  any  performance  or  non-per- 
formance of  ceremonial  acts,  is  that  which  decides 
his  destiny,  for  happiness  or  misery.  We  can  easily 
imagine  the  healthy  and  refreshing  effects  of  such 
a  proclamation  in  Eastern  society,  which  tends  so 
readily  to  fixity  of  life,  which  is  wont  passively  to 
let  unreal  barriers  grow  up  between  class  and  class, 
to  grow  torpid  under  the  delusions  of  pantheistic  fa- 
talism, and  to  acquiesce  in  a  lazy  formality  of  reli- 
gious action  as  a  substitute  for  energetic  moral  sym- 
pathy with  goodness.  No  wonder  that  Gotama 
seems  a  godlike  teacher,  stooping  down  with  infi- 
nite gentleness  and  compassion  to  make  men  once 
more  brethren,  and  to  bring  them  back  to  simple 
rules  of  life,  to  help  them  again  to  respect  them- 
selves and  all  living  creatures,  and  to  take  their  pro- 
per place  in  this  bewildering  and  ever  -  changing 
world. 

This  is  the  good  side  of  Buddhism  "^  Its  great 
defect  is  that  it  is  a  philosophy,  not  a  religion,  while 
it  claims  to  supply  the  place  of  religion.  The  Buddha 
means  "the  enlightened  one",  he  who  knows;  and 
escape    from    ignorance,    not   from    sin   against  God 

''^  Mons.  J.  B.  Saint-Hilaire  has  an  interesting  chapter  on  the 
merits  and  defects  of  Buddhism,  pp.  141 — 182  of  his  Le  Bouddha 
et  sa  Religion,  ed.  3  (Paris,  1866). 


268  The  'Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

or  injury  to  man,  is  the  great  object  set  before  bis 
followers.  The  practical  denial  of  God  the  creator, 
and  the  narrowing  down  of  human  interest  to  the 
field  of  conduct  within  one's  own  control,  has  flat- 
tered the  so-called  common-sense  of  mankind,  and 
made  them  content  with  a  very  feeble  and  futile  ideal 
of  peace  and  happiness.  Buddhism  is  a  kind  of 
Positivism,  without  the  motto,  "Live  for  others," 
which  the  latter  has  borrowed  from  Christianity. 
The  Buddha,  indeed,  had  great  sympathy  for  man- 
kind, and  many  Buddhists,  like  him,  have  been  ar- 
dent self-denying  missionaries®'',  and  have  doubtless 
reaped  the  reward  of  their  devotion.  But  his  doc- 
trine sets  up  the  purely  individual  object  of  per- 
fection of  self  as  the  end  of  life,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  God,  or  to  the  good  of  other  souls.  The 
Positivist  equally  omits  the  glory  of  God  as  a  moral 
motive,  but  lays  great  stress  on  our  absolute  duty  to 
humanity,  a  belief  which  is  indeed  illogical  and  in- 

^  The  following  words  are  attributed  to  Gotama  just  before  his 
famous  sermon  at  Isipatana,  near  Benares : — 

**  I  now  desire  to  turn  the  wheel  of  the  excellent  Law. 
For  this  purpose  I  am  going  to  that  city  of  Benares 
To  give  light  to  those  enshrouded  in  darkness, 
And  to  open  the  gate  of  immortality  to  men." 
See  Bhys  Davids'  Buddhism,  p.  43  ;  and  cp.  Sacred  Books,  Buddhist 
Suttas,  vol.  xi.  pp.  146  foil.  The  same  energetic  missionary  spirit  ap- 
peared in  the  purer  school  of  Buddhism,  the  Hinayana,  the  system 
of  the   "  small   conveyance."     The   Mahayana,   or  school  of  the 
"  great  conveyance,"  produced  a  very  different  type,  that  of  meta- 
physical subtlety.     See  E.  J.  Eitel's  Buddhism :   Three  Lectures^ 
pp.37  foil.,  2nd  ed.  (Honkong,   1873).     ogling  Asoka  established 
a  board  for  foreign  missions,  which  he  supported  with  his  political 
influence,  and  his  own  son,  Mahendra,  went  as  a  missionary  to 
Ceylon:  Hid.,  p.  19. 


YIL]    Selfishness  of  Buddhist  Doctrine  of  Merit.     269 

effective  without  belief  in  God,  but  certainly  renders 
the  Positivist  scheme  of  morals  superior  to  that  of 
the  Buddhist.  It  is  true  that  the  latter  is  bound 
to  respect  and  help  other  men,  but  (theoretically) 
this  is  only  a  means  to  increase  his  own  merit ;  and 
therefore  gratitude  for  generous  acts  is  not  neces- 
sary, since  the  merit  of  the  act — which  is  in  his 
eyes  the  only  thing  worth  considering — rests  en- 
tirely with  him  who  does  the  kindness. 

Hence  Sin  is  viewed  as  a  misfortune,  which  hap- 
pens to  you  and  delays  your  perfection,  rather  than 
as  an  offence  against  God  or  man,  and  it  is  even  pos- 
sible to  keep  a  daily  profit  and  loss  account  of  merit 
and  demerit,  as  is  done  by  some  Chinese  Buddhists  ^^ 

In  consequence  of  this  theory  of  sin  and  merit, 
based  on  the  absence  of  a  Creator,  there  are  no  pri- 
mary motives  to  good  conduct  except  fear  or  self- 
love.  It  rests  with  a  man's  self  whether  he  will  save 
himself  now,  or  in  some  future  rebirth;  whether  he 
will  barter  a  limited  period  of  punishment  in  hell  for 
so  much  present  indulgence.  The  moral  Law,  indeed, 
exists  outside  him,  and  the  unseen  world  and  its 
terrors  is  very  real  to  him ;  but  the  execution  of  the 
Law  depends  entirely  on  his  own  determination.  No 
one  suffers  except  himself  by  his  non-fulfilment  of  it, 
or,  at  least,  the  suffering  of  others  makes  no  differ- 
ence to  him,  except  as  it  interferes  with  his  acqui- 
sition of  merit.     There  is  no  real  solidarity  of  in- 

^^  R.  Spence  Hardy,  Manual  of  Buddhism,  p.  507  (Lond.,  1853) ; 
Eitel,  Lectures,  p.  63.  On  merit-making  in  Siam  see  the  interesting 
observations  of  a  modern  Buddhist  in  H.  Alabaster's  Wheel  of  the 
Law,  pp.  53  foil.  (Lond.,  1871). 


270  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

terests  between  man  and  man  here  or  hereafter.  How 
attractive  such  a  theory  may  be  to  human  selfishness 
is  obvious  to  any  one  who  will  think  of  what  he  him- 
self is  like  in  his  meaner  moments. 

Another  reason  for  the  spread  of  Buddhism  in  the 
Eastern  world  is  to  be  found  in  the  tedium  of  life 
and  the  enjoyment  of  simple  inactivity,  which  a  West- 
ern can  hardly  understand  as  a  motive  prevailing 
over  great  masses  of  men.  This  can  only  have  been 
felt  where  the  idea  of  endless  transmigration  has 
taken  a  firm  hold  of  the  imagination,  and  been  long 
believed  without  an  efi'ort.  In  countries  where  this 
is  the  case, — as  in  India  after  the  Yedic  period, — 
the  merely  negative  rest  of  ISTirvawa,  and  the  absence 
of  all  activity  and  sense  of  want,  comes  as  a  great 
relief.  According  to  the  most  probable  theory  of 
original  Buddhism,  entrance  into  Mrva;za  was  to  be 
found  in  this  life  in  the  cessation  of  all  ignorance 
and  desire  ^^,  to  be  followed  after  death  by  extinction 
of  name  and  form,  difi'ering  little,  if  at  all,  from  ab- 
solute annihilation  ^^     Human  nature  has  naturally 

®^  See  Appendix  I. 

^  Professor  Max  Miiller  calls  attention  to  the  more  positive 
meaning  of  ]S'irva?^a  as  a  state  of  life  in  this  world,  and  supposes 
that  Buddha  himself  held  a  view  somewhat  more  like  the  one  now 
popular  in  Buddhist  countries  of  the  state  after  death,  which  was 
subsequently  given  up  by  his  more  metaphysical  followers.  "  It  re- 
presented the  entrance  of  the  soul  into  rest,  a  subduing  of  all  wishes 
and  desires,  indifference  to  joy  and  pain,  to  good  and  evil,  an  ab- 
sorption of  the  soul  in  itself,  and  a  freedom  from  the  circle  of 
existences  from  birth  to  death,  and  from  death  to  a  new  birth." — 
See  Buddhist  Nihilism,  in  Selected  Essays,  vol.  ii.  p.  305,  and  other 
Essays  in  that  volume.  Buddha's  own  view  must  at  present  re- 
main uncertain.     According  to  the  Stitta-JVipdta,  however,  when 


VII.]  Doctrine  of  Nirvana.  271 

revolted  from  this  prospect,  and  perhaps  the  majority 
of  Buddhists. have  either  ceased  to  desire  Nirva?^a  as 
a  practical  object  (as  in  Siam)  ^\  or  they  have  turned 
it  into  a  positive  state  of  happiness,  something  like 
the  Moslem  paradise,  as  in  Tibet  and  China  ^^ 

But  whether  ]N"irva?za  be  considered  as  absolutely 
negative  or  not,  the  whole  tendency  of  the  Buddhist 
system  is  to  set  the  highest  moral  value  on  an  anti- 
social state  of  indolence  and  inactivity — to  stamp  de- 
spair of  the  world  with  the  whole  force  of  its  approval. 
Gotama's  original  idea  was  apparently  that  of  a  house- 
less hermit-life  of  absolute  apathy  ^\  which  soon  passed 

asked  " if  conscioiisness  would  exist,"  he  replied  that  "as  a  flame, 
blown  about  by  the  violence  of  the  wind,  goes  out,  and  cannot  be 
reckoned  as  existing,  even  so  a  Muni,  delivered  from  name  and 
body,  disappears,  and  cannot  be  reckoned  (as  existing)."  .  .  .  "For 
him  who  has  disappeared  there  is  no  form ;  that  by  which  they  say 
he  is,  exists  for  him  no  longer."  {Sacred  Booh,  vol.  x.  pt.  2, 
pp.  198,  199.) 

«*  Alabaster,  I  c.  p.  xxxviii.,  says:  "The  ordinary  Siamese 
never  troubles  himself  about  Nirwana,  he  does  not  even  mention 
it.  He  believes  virtue  will  be  rewarded  by  going  to  heaven 
(Sawan),  and  he  talks  of  heaven,  and  not  of  Nirwana.  Buddha, 
he  will  tell  you,  has  entered  Nirwana,  but,  for  his  pait,  he  does 
not  look  beyond  Sawan." 

»5  The  Paradise  of  the  Western  Heaven,  believed  in  by  the 
worshippers  of  Amitabha  Buddha,  is  well  described  in  Eitel's 
Lectures,  pp.  97  foil.  He  thinks  it  may  have  had  its  origin  "in 
Gnostic  or  Persian  ideas,  influencing  the  Buddhism  of  Cashmere 
and  Nepaul,"  ib.,  p.  102.  Cp.  Edkins,  Religion  in  China,  p.  99; 
Chinese  Buddhism,  pp.  233  foil.,  &c. 

«^  According  to  the  Sutta-Nipdta  (see  FausboU's  Introduction^ 
p.  XV.),  the  highest  life  is  that  of  the  Muni,  "  one  who  forsakes 
the  world  and  lives  in  a  houseless  state,  because  from  house-life 
arises  defilement.  ....  He  is  not  pleased  nor  displeased  with 
anything.  He  is  indifferent  to  learning.  He  does  not  cling  to 
good  or  evil.     He  has  cut  off  all  passion  and  all  desire.    He  is 


272  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.  [Lect. 

into  a  Sangha,  or  brotherhood  of  mendicants  (bhik- 
shus).  Of  course  laymen  had  also  to  be  tolerated,  but 
only  as  an  afterthought,  and  in  a  secondary  degree 
of  virtue.  Women  also  were  admitted  after  a  time 
to  take  the  vows,  but  (it  is  said)  that  they  cannot 
attain  Nirvawa  without  being  first  reborn  as  men  ^^. 

Buddhism  thus  differs  from  all  other  religious  sys- 
tems, which  have  become  popular,  in  being  founded 
on  monasticism  and  developed  out  of  it.  In  other 
religions  it  is  an  accretion,  not  a  necessary  part  of 
the  life.  They  can  do  just  as  well  without  it  as 
with  it.  But  should  men  decline  any  longer  to  take 
the  yellow  robe,  or  should  the  world  cease  to  provide 
the  monks  with  the  daily  bread,  on  which  they  live 
without  working  for  themselves,  the  whole  system 
must  collapse  ^^  Buddhism  is  thus,  even  more  than 
other  voluntary  societies  which  we  have  mentioned, 
profoundly  anti-social.  The  human  race  exists  that 
there  may  be  monks ;  and  the  object  of  the  monastic 
life  is  to  annihilate  the  race.  This  is  indeed  to  make 
a  solitude  and  call  it  peace. 

Of  course  the  system  is  not  fully  carried  out.  The 
monastic  life  may  be  laid  down  at  pleasure,  and  is 
not  a  lifelong  yoke  on  those  who  find  they  have  no 
vocation  for  it.  In  some  countries  the  robe  is  as- 
sumed for  a  short  period  of  life  by  the  greater  part 
of  the   population.     The   Buddhist   re -assertion   of 

free  from  marks  and  possessionless."  He  is  without  consciousness 
or  sensation,  and  without  breathing,  i.e.  lives  in  a  state  of  absolute 
apathy. 

®^  Eitel's  Lectures,  p.  63  :  cp.  p.  Ill  of  the  same  book. 

^  See  the  remarks  of  a  "  modern  Buddhist "  in  Alabaster's 
Wheel  of  the  Laiv,  p.  54. 


VIL]  Character  of  Buddhism.  273 

human  freedom  has  also,  in  the  earlier  centuries  of  its 
propagation,  led  to  great  and  often  beneficent  activity. 
To  it  is  due  the  building  of  stone  temples  of  striking 
architecture,  the  erection  of  monuments  of  very  re- 
markable sculpture,  the  building  of  valuable  tanks, 
the  foundation  of  hospitals,  the  writing  of  chronicles 
and  inscriptions, — not  to  speak  of  the  more  religious 
movements  of  councils  and  missions.  Buddhist  litera- 
ture, though  full  of  tedious  repetitions,  and  wanting 
in  higher  poetical  elements,  is  comparatively  natural 
and  popular;  its  teaching  is  suited  to  the  ears  of 
common  men,  and  consists  largely  of  fables  or  para- 
bles and  illustrations  from  life  ^^. 

This  activity  has  now,  to  a  great  extent,  ceased. 
The  Law  is  little  understood  by  those  who  read  it, 
much  less  by  those  who  listen,  and  missionary  energy 
is  all  but  extinct.  The  teaching  in  Buddhist  schools 
is  very  elementary  and  trifling,  and  little  is  written 
of  any  value  '^^.     Superstition  has  settled  down  again 

*^  It  is  now  matter  of  general  knowledge  that  much  of  the 
collection  of  Plauudes  (in  the  fourteenth  century),  known  to  us 
as  -^sop's  Fables,  is  Buddhist  in  origin,  being  founded  on  the 
G'atakas,  in  which  the  Buddha  in  some  previous  birth  is  the  hero 
of  every  tale.  See  Rhys  Davids'  Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  pp.  xxix. 
foil. ;  and  cp.  Max  Miiller  on  the  Migration  of  Fables,  in  Selected 
Essays,  vol.  i.  pp.  500 — 547.  The  (?ataka  stories  themselves  may 
be  earlier  or  later  than  Gotama.  Dr.  Frankfurter  has  seen  a  MS. 
in  which  the  moral  verses  exist  apart  from  the  fables.  See  Ap- 
pendix I. 

^  Mr.  Alabaster  replies  very  inaptly  to  M.  St.  Hilaire's  criti- 
cism of  the  literary  incapacity  of  Buddhist  nations  (Ze  Buddha  et 
sa  Eeligion,  p.  180,  Paris,  18C6,  referred  to  in  Wheel  of  the  Law, 
pp.  liii.,  liv.),  by  instancing  the  literature  of  China  and  Japan, 
countries  which  are  only  Buddliist  in  a  very  partial  manner.  He 
refutes  his  own  statement  as  far  as  Siam  is  concerned,  on  p.  4  of 
T 


274  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace,  [Lect. 

upon  the  common  people  wherever  Buddhism  prevails, 
often  (as  in  Ceylon)  in  the  gross  form  of  the  worship 
of  evil  spirits;  and  the  degradation  and  ignorance 
of  Northern  Buddhism  is  almost  proverbial  ^^  The 
impressions  we  receive  of  Buddhist  countries  differ, 
no  doubt,  somewhat  according  to  the  character  and  po- 
sition of  the  reporters,  but  on  the  whole  we  cannot  be 
wrong  in  charging  Buddhism  with  terrible  mental 
apathy,  and  practical  unfruitfulness.  It  has  been 
said  that  this  is  due  to  climate.  But  Buddhism,  as 
we  have  seen,  could  once  be  active  ;  and  native  criti- 

his  own  book,  both  from  his  own  observation,  and  that  of  the 
Siamese  statesman  whose  work  he  is  translating.  The  latter  says : 
"The  course  of  teaching  at  present  followed  in  the  temples  is  un- 
profitable." "Our  Siamese  literature  is  not  only  scanty,  but 
nonsensical,"  &c. 

Mr.  Alabaster  does  not  deny  the  second  charge,  that  Buddhism 
is  incapable  of  organising  equitable  and  intelligent  societies,  but 
only  retorts  with  some  remarks  upon  French  politics,  and  the 
want  of  happiness  in  European  states. 

®^  Sir  James  Emerson  Tennant  wrote  in  1850,  in  his  Christianity 
in  Ceylon:  "Both  socially  and  in  its  effect  upon  individuals,  the 
result  of  the  system  in  Ceylon  has  been  apathy,  almost  approaching 
to  infidelity.  Even  as  regards  the  tenets  of  their  creed,  the  mass 
of  the  population  exhibit  the  profoundest  ignorance,  and  manifest 
the  most  irreverent  indifi'erence.  In  their  daily  intercourse  and 
acts,  morality  and  virtue,  so  far  from  being  apparent  in  practice, 
are  barely  discernible  as  the  exception,  &c.  (p.  228)."  "The 
Buddhist  priests  connive  at  demon  worship,  because  their  efi'orts 
are  ineff'ectual  to  suppress  it ;  and  the  most  orthodox  Singhalese, 
whilst  they  confess  its  impropriety,  are  still  driven  to  resort  to  it 
in  all  their  fears  and  afilictions  (pp.  231,  232)."  The  expression 
of  the  priests  or  monks  in  Ceylon  and  elsewhere,  is  described  by 
several  writers  as  one  of  mental  inertness,  approaching  idiotcy. 
(R.  Spence  Hardy,  Eastern  Monachism,  pp.  311,  312.  Lend., 
1860.) 

Northern  Buddhism  is  picturesquely  described  in  Eitel's  Three 
-LectureSf  pp.  84  foil. 


YII.]  Failure  of  Buddhism.  275 

cism  of  its  effects  in  China  shews  how  much  it  may 
alter  character  irrespective  of  external  conditions.  To 
the  Confucianist,  as  well  as  to  the  Christian,  it  ap- 
pears as  foolishly  destructive  of  what  is  natural  and 
useful,  through  fear  of  the  misuse,  and  as  fatal  to 
a  performance  of  social  and  domestic  duty  ^'. 

Buddhism  has  been  extirpated  in  the  country  of 
its  birth,  and  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  this  fate 
has  not  been  undeserved.  Better  even  the  degraded 
theism  of  the  Brahmans  than  the  elevation  of  man 
above  God, — of  this  religion  without  a  basis  and 
without  a  hope.  Hopeless  as  it  is  for  the  individual, 
so  also  it  foresees  its  own  extinction.  Gotama  (it  is 
said)  prophesied  that  in  five  thousand  years  his  relics 
would  be  burnt  up,  and  all  knowledge  of  his  doc- 
trines would  disappear  from  off  the  earth.  It  is  also 
a  belief  that  as  long  as  the  system  flourishes  in  the 
sacred  land  of  Ceylon,  it  will  flourish  everywhere; 
but  when  it  falls  there  it  will  fall  throughout  the 
world  ^^  God  has  given  us  this  sacred  land,  the  key, 
as  it  were,  to  the  religion  of  five  hundred  millions. 
If  we  have  faith  in  God  and  in  the  worth  of  our 
own  lives,  as  His  instruments  and  subjects;  if  we 
will  use  the  means  of  Buddha,  the  pure-  persuasion 
of  holy  words,  and  the  example  of  a  self-denying 
and  compassionate  life,  we  may  win  back  to  belief 

5-  Oa  this  Confucianist  criticism,  see  Edkin's  Chinese  Buddhism, 
pp.  200,  201.  Dr.  Legge  has  kindly  pointed  out  to  me  an  interost- 
in*  Chinese  comment  on  this  subject,  which  he  has  quoted  in  the 
notes  to  The  Announcement  about  Drunkenness  in  the  Shd  King 
{Chinese  Classics,  vol.  iii.  pt.  2,  p.  402,  Honkong,  1865). 

^^  For  these  traditions,  see  R.  Spence  Hurdv,  Eastern  Monachism, 
pp.  430,  431. 

t2 


276  The  Natural  Desire  for  Peace.     [Lect.  YII. 

in  their  Creator,  not  the  men  of  this  land  only,  but 
an  almost  innumerable  multitude  of  immortal  souls. 

Such,  then,  is  the  failure  of  these  great  human 
efforts  to  attain  peace  by  bringing  religion  to  bear 
upon  society.  Men  have  tried  to  secure  order  with- 
out regard  to  Truth,  and  have  ended  in  simple  idola- 
try of  outward  Tranquillity.  They  have  attempted  to 
impose  a  minimum  of  Truth  by  force,  and  have  bound 
society  in  chains.  They  have  withdrawn  from  the 
world,  and  cultivated  what  they  held  for  Truth  in 
anti-social  secrecy  or  selfish  retirement.  They  have 
tried  all  these  methods,  with  grand  opportunities  and 
on  a  broad  scale.  The  religion  of  Eome,  Islam,  and 
Buddhism  represent  enormous  forces  and  vast  ex- 
ternal successes;  but  the  Peace  which  they  have 
preached  is  no  Peace  proceeding  from  God,  no  Peace 
for  man. 


97 


77 


LECTURE   VIIL 


ST.  JOHN  xiv.  27. 

Peace  I  leave  icith  you,  My  'peace  I  give  unto  you :  not  as  the 
tcorld  givetJi,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  be  trou- 
bled, neither  let  it  be  afraid. 


THE   PEACE   OF   THE   CHUECH   AS  WOKTHY   OF   GOD   WHO 
GIVES  IT  AND   AS   SATISFYING   THE   NEEDS  OF   MAN. 

Eecapitulation. — I.  Notes  of  the  Church  as  representing  the  Divine 
Nature:   (1)  Unity,  {2)  Holiness,  (3)  Catholicity. 

(1.)  Unity,  its  double  sense,  singleness  and  concord. — Other  systems 
based  on  human  concord. — The  Church  rests  on  the  Unity  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity. — Difficulty  of  present  disunion. — Reference  to 
the  invisible  Church  not  a  sufficient  reply. — Answer,  1.  the 
early  Church  was  visibly  one. — Tiibingea  theory  not  borne  out 
by  facts. — 2.  Unity,  on  points  of  faith  still  very  profound. — 
The  schismatic  temper,  a  sort  of  check  on  heresy. — 3.  Prospects 
of  future  unity,  much  advanced  by  the  loss  of  secular  power. — 
A  new  period  of  history  began  in  1870. — Position  of  the  Church 
of  Rome. — Of  our  own  Church. — The  Royal  Supremacy. — Fu- 
ture conflict  on  fundamental  truths.  —  Possible  mediation  by 
Church  of  England.  ' 

(2.)  Holiness,  not  self-culture  or  outward  law,  but  the  assimilation 
of  divine  life. — Coincidence  of  obedience  and  freedom  in  Christ. 
— Approach  to  it  in  Christians,  especially  near  death. — Gra- 
dual sanctification  of  nations. — Christianity  and  national  cha- 
racter. —  Christian  legislation.  —  Constantine.  —  Self-corrective 
power. — Repentance  for  negro  slavery. —  Other  social  reforms. 

(3.)  Catholicity,  an  image  of  God's  omnipotence  and  omnipresence. 
— Definition  of  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem.— 1.  Influence  of  the 
Church  on  action  in  social  and  civil  life. — The  Crusades. — 
2.  Influence  on  thought  in  doctrine  of  the  Logos. — Necessary 
overthrow  of  Scholasticism. — Successive  tendencies  to  Deism, 


278  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

Pantheism,  and  Positivism. — Demand  for  a  Christian  philosophy, 
— 3.  Education  oi  feeling. — Art  and  Literature. — Call  to  repent- 
ance :  work  of  religious  orders. — Place  of  the  charismata. 

II.  The  Church  as  satisfying  Human  wants. — Symbolism  of  the 
Ark  and  its  contents. — Contrast  with  Dionysiac  enthusiasm. 

(1.)  Doctrine. — Faith  and  scepticism. — Theology  recognizes  all 
classes  of  fact. — Peace  given  to  the  Intellect. 

(2.)  Sacraments. — Analogies  in  heathenism. — Christian  Sacraments 
"an  extension  of  the  Incarnation." — Practical  value. — St.  Cy- 
prian on  Baptism. — The  Eucharist. — Other  sacramental  rites. 

(3.)  Discipline. — The  Church  called  Apostolic. — The  Gospels  "the 
Institution  of  a  Christian  Ministry." — Realization  of  Christ's 
presence. — Practical  influence. — Conclusion. 

TT^  our  last  Lecture  we  sketched  some  of  the  most 
striking  and  characteristic  attempts  which  have 
been  made  to  secure  the  Peace  and  Happiness  of 
mankind,  first  by  means  of  social  and  political  in- 
struments, and  then  by  the  aid  and  influence  of  re- 
ligion outside  Christianity.  Both,  we  saw,  had 
failed;  the  first  necessarily,  because  they  confined 
their  scheme  of  blessedness  to  this  earth,  ''  ad  fruc- 
tum  pacis  terrense  in  terrena  civitate;"  and  even 
in  this  sphere  they  were  found  confessedly  incom- 
petent, either  to  prevent  war,  or  to  make  life  really 
happy. 

The  failure  of  those  who  attempted  to  secure  Peace 
by  means  of  religion  was  traced  to  different  causes. 
Some,  like  many  in  ancient  Greece  and  Eome,  were 
found  subordinating  Faith  and  Truth  to  Expedi- 
ency, and  treating  Eeligion  as  an  instrument  of 
police.  Others,  like  Mahomet,  limited  themselves  by 
a  one-sided  and  retrogressive  formula,  and  did  vio- 
lence to  the  conscience  by  persecution.  Lastly,  those 
who  recognized   the   truth,   that   Eeligion,   to   have 


YIIL]  Worthy  of  tJw  Nature  of  God  279 

any  moral  worth,  must  be  accepted  by  a  voluntary 
act  of  Faith,  were  observed  in  practice  to  have  an 
anti-social  character.  This  is  the  case  both  with  the 
smaller  secret  societies,  and  with  the  great  monastic 
system  of  philosophy,  which  has  been  so  strangely 
destined  to  occupy  the  larger  part  of  Eastern  Asia. 
The  cynical  worshipper  of  Imperial  Eome,  the  bitter 
Moslem,  who  narrows  down  his  belief  in  God  to  the 
proud  and  selfish  utterances  of  a  false  prophet,  and 
the  hopeless,  vacuous  recluse  of  Buddhism,  are  strik- 
ing and  manifest  types  of  the  failure  of  human  en- 
deavours to  build  up  a  system  of  peace  without  the 
Spirit  of  God.  We  now  turn  to  the  brighter  pic- 
ture of  the  Peace  which  is  given  by  the  Church  on 
earth,  leading  upward  to  the  Church  in  heaven. 

In  treating  this  subject,  we  shall  continue  to  fol- 
low the  method  previously  adopted,  and  endeavour 
to  display  the  gift  of  Peace,  first,  as  worthy  of  Ilim 
who  offers  it  as  His  own,  saying,  "Peace  I  leave 
with  you,  My  peace  I  give  unto  you;"  and,  se- 
condly, as  the  true  satisfaction  of  the  wants  of  man 
who  receives  it. 

I. 

The  Gift  of  Peace  as  ivorthj  of  the  Nature  of  God. 

What  are  the  attributes  of  the  Divine  Nature 
which  are  most  clearly  represented  in  the  Church  ? 
They  can,  I  think,  best  be  described  in  the  words 
of  one  of  the  oldest  creeds  \  I  believe  "  in  One  Holy 

1  The  Creed  of  Jerusalem  :  see  St.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Catechcsis 
xviii.   at  the  besinuing.     The   Creed  of  Coustautinoplc  ruus: — 


280  TJie  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

Catholic  Church."  Let  us  take  the  three  attributes 
in  the  order  in  which  they  stand. 

(1.)  Unity  J  as  a  divine  attribute,  and  as  applied  to 
the  Church,  is  obviously  capable  of  two  senses.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  is  what  we  may  call  the  primary 
sense  of  singleness  in  comparison  with  multiplicity, 
the  one  true  God  as  opposed  to  the  many  false 
ones,  the  unique  Church  as  contrasted  with  the  va- 
riety of  defective  religious  systems.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  mean  oneness,  in  the  secondary  sense 
of  harmony  as  opposed  to  discord,  the  internal  con- 
cord of  the  divine  nature  as  opposed  to  the  vacilla- 
tion of  created  wills,  the  Peace  of  the  Church  as 
contrasted  with  the  strife  of  human  societies.  The 
first  implies  an  external  contrast,  the  second  de- 
scribes an  internal  state. 

In  both  senses,  unity  is  a  mark  or  note  of  the 
Church,  and  the  two  naturally  run  into  one  another ; 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  great  passage  where  St.  Paul 
urges  the  Ephesians  to  "keep  the  unity  (that  is, 
concord)  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  : "  and 
then  adds  the  reason,  "  There  is  one  (and  only  one) 
body  and  one  spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one 
hope  of  your  calling ;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  bap- 
tism, one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all, 
and  through  all,  and  in  you  all"  (Eph.  iv.  3—6). 
It  is  important  to  remember  this  double  sense  of 

"And  in  One  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church."  The  omis- 
sion of  "Holy"  in  the  English  "Nicene  Creed"  has  been  sup- 
posed accidental,  but  see  Church  Quarterly  Review,  viii.  378  foil., 
where  it  is  ascribed  to  a  critical  use  of  the  books  on  Councils  open 
to  the  Reformers. 


VIIL]  Double  Sense  of  Unify.  281 

unity  in  thinking  of  the  Church,  because  in  the 
necessary  connection  of  the  two  lies  one  of  the  radi- 
cal differences  between  the  Christian  and  other  ideals 
of  Peace.  They  approach  the  subject  chiefly  from 
the  secondary  sense  of  unity,  namely,  concord,  and 
view  it  chiefly  as  the  result  of  a  co-operation  of 
human  wills.  This  is  an  obvious  criticism  on  the 
merely  state  ideals,  whose  object  is  the  fruit  of 
earthly  peace.  It  is  true  also  of  the  polytheist  or 
heathen,  who  regards  religion  as  a  national  pecu- 
liarity, securing  a  certain  earthly  blessing  to  its  fol- 
lowers. The  Moslem  scheme  sounds  grander  from 
its  proclamation  of  "  one  God,"  and  yet  it  is  bound 
fast  to  earth  by  its  requirement  of  adhesion  to  Ma- 
homet as  the  exponent  of  divine  truth,  and  by  its 
use  of  force  to  produce  belief;  while  Buddhism  is, 
as  we  have  seen,  more  absolutely  Pelagian  and  in- 
dividual in  its  aims,  more  reckless  of  God  and  of 
a  future  life  than  any  other  religious  system.  The 
Church  alone  rests  not  upon  man's  ordinance  or  com- 
pact, but  upon  the  divine  unity.  In  every  act  and 
thought  it  takes  us  up  to  God.  Its  root  is  in  the 
unity  of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  into  whose  name  every 
Christian  is  baptized,  one  in  singleness  of  nature  far 
above  all  creation,  and  one  in  the  divine  concord  of 
love,  which  knows  no  will  and  no  good  outside  the 
will  and  the  blessedness  of  the  common  nature.  It 
is  unique,  because  there  is  but  one  God  who  has  said 
to  His  people,  "  Look  unto  Me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth  :  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is 
none  else"  (Isaiah  xlv.  22) ;  and  again,  "  I  will  dwell 
in  them,  and  walk  in  them ;  and  I  will  be  their  God, 


282  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

and  they  shall  be  My  people"  (2  Cor.  vi.  IG,  &c.). 
It  is  united  in  love,  because  "  God  is  love,  and  he 
that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in 
him"  (1  Johniv.  16).  ^ 

It  will  be  said,  indeed,  by  an  objector,  that  "  this 
attribute  of  unity  is  beautiful  and  God-like,  and  just 
such  as  we  should  expect  in  the  body  of  Christ,  but 
it  is  not  possessed  as  a  fact  by  the  Church.  Look 
at  the  divisions  of  Christendom;  look  at  the  secu- 
larity  of  some  Churches,  and  the  intrusion  of  the 
State  into  others,  where  Peace  is  only  maintained 
by  the  Civil  Power." 

To  this  obvious  difficulty  the  reply  has  been  often 
made  that  visible  unity  is  not  to  be  expected  in  this 
world;  that  the  Church  never  professes  to  be  com- 
plete at  any  given  moment  of  time,  but  lives  as  an 
heir  of  eternity  ;  and  that  unity  is  an  attribute  rather 
of  the  invisible,  than  of  the  visible,  body.    Our  atten- 

^  There  is  no  doubt  some  very  definite  reason  why  the  cube 
was  chosen  as  the  type  of  the  dwelling  of  God,  both  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New.  This  was  the  form  of  the  Holy  of  Holies, 
both  in  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Temple,  and  probably  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Ezekiel  (see  the  commentators  on  Exod.  xxvi.  compared 
with  Josephus,  Ant.,  iii.  6,  §  3,  4 ;  1  Kings  vi,  20 ;  Ezeh.  xli.  2 
and  4,  and  Fergusson's  interesting  article,  Temple,  in  Smithes  Bible 
Dictionary/).  This,  too,  was  the  appearance  of  the  heavenly  city, 
the  new  Jerusalem,  as  described  in  Hev.  xxi.  16.  We  may  sup- 
pose that  it  was  chosen  (1)  as  a  type  of  external  strength,  even- 
ness, solidity,  and  comj)actness,  somewhat  as  "four-square  with- 
out a  flaw  "  (reTpdyoavos  civev  ^oyov)  was  to  the  Greeks  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  perfect  man  (see  the  poem  of  Simonides  in  Plato's  Pro- 
tagoras, p.  339,  alluded  to  by  Aristotle,  Mk.  Nic.,  i.  10,  11 ;  Eliet., 
iii.  II,  2).  It  is  also  (2)  the  simplest  solid  of  three  dimensions, 
length,  breadth,  and  height ;  a  type,  therefore,  of  internal  unity 
and  co-equality.     Cp.  Eph.  iii.  18. 


VIII.]  Difficulttj  of  present  Disunion.  283 

tion  is  called  off  from  earth  to  the  unseen  Communion 
of  the  Saints  of  all  lands  and  all  ages,  whom  God  is 
gathering  into  his  treasure-house  of  Paradise,  and 
\vill  one  day  exhibit  in  its  perfect  sum,  when  Christ 
returns  to  gather  Ilis  own  around  Him,  and  to  judge 
the  world.  But,  easy  as  this  explanation  is,  and  com- 
forting as  the  doctrine  of  the  Communion  of  Saints, 
and  of  Christ's  second  coming  must  especially  be  in 
times  of  disunion,  it  is  hardly  satisfactory  and  com- 
plete. It  is  true,  but  not  the  whole  truth.  Eather 
we  should  reply  to  an  objector,  1.  that  the  visible 
Church  for  many  centuries  shewed  a  power  of  union 
which  was  a  new  thing  in  the  world,  and  that  this 
union  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  Church-life ;  2,  that 
even  in  the  present  there  is  a  deeper  union  of  belief 
among  Christians  of  all  persuasions,  than  the  appear- 
ance of  discord  produced  by  the  different  government 
of  sects  and  churches  would  lead  outsiders  to  believe ; 
3.  that  in  the  future  the  prospects  of  union  are  real 
and  rational,  however  obscured  at  the  present  mo- 
ment. Our  Lord,  indeed,  prophesied  that  tares  would 
be  sown  amid  the  wheat  of  His  sacred  field,  and  that 
both  would  grow  together  till  the  harvest.  "We  can- 
not therefore  expect  a  perfectly  united  Church,  but 
we  may  expect  and  labour  for  a  much  greater  mea- 
sure of  concord  than  we  see  at  present. 

1.  The  union  of  the  early  Christian  Church  is 
a  fact  which  is  specially  remarkable  when  we  con- 
sider the  discordant  social  and  religious  elements 
out  of  which  it  was  compacted.  The  chasms  between 
Jew  and  Gentile,  between  freeman  and  slave,  were 
greater  than  any  with  which  most  of  us  are  fami- 


284  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

liar.  Yet  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century  of 
our  era,  within  about  a  hundred  years  of  the  As- 
cension, the  Catholic  Church  was  established  all 
round  the  Mediterranean  sea,  under  the  same  form 
of  episcopal  government,  and  with  a  doctrine  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  that  now  held  among  ourselves. 
The  theory  of  the  Tubingen  school,  of  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  the  strife  between  a  so-called  Petrine  or 
Ebionite,  and  a  Pauline  or  Gentile  Christianity,  will 
not  bear  serious  examination,  though  it  has  served 
a  useful  purpose  in  drawing  minute  attention  to  the 
early  records  of  Church  History^.  This  detailed 
investigation  has  brought  out  most  clearly  the  sub- 
stantial unity  of  the  early  Church,  and  the  readiness 
with  which  Catholic  doctrine  was  accepted.  He  who 
is  "  our  peace,"  made  both  Jew  and  Gentile  one, 
broke  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition,  and  slew 
the  enmity  which  divided  them,  even  in  the  life- 
time of  the  first  Apostles  (Eph.  ii.  14  foil).  This  is 
a  topic  upon  which  we  cannot  now  enlarge ;  but  what 
has  once  been  under  such  difficult  circumstances  can 
be  again.  All  sects  and  churches  look  to  the  early 
period  of  Church  History  as  common  ground.  The 
more  closely  they  study  it,  the  greater  will  be  their 
agreement :  the  more  clearly  they  will  see  that  visi- 
ble unity,  without  absolute  uniformity,  is  a  natural 
and  possible  attribute  of  the  Church. 

2.    Even    at    this    moment   the    union    of   belief 

^  The  English  reader,  who  may  possibly  be  unfamiliar  with  this 
theory,  will  find  it  explained  and  satisfactorily  refuted  in  [Bp.] 
J.  B,  Lightfoot's  St.  Paul  and  the  Three,  an  Essay  attached  to  his 
Commentary  on  St.  Paul's  Ejpidle  to  the  Gahtians: 


YIII.]  Unitfj  on  points  of  Faith,  285 

among  Christians  is  very  deep,  far  deeper  than  that 
of  the  superficial  creeds  which  bind  other  men  to- 
gether." JSTo  sect  has  clearly  established  its  right  to 
the  name  of  Christian  which  does  not  accept  the  most 
profound  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  the 
Atonement,  the  Kesurrection,  Ascension,  and  Second 
Coming  of  Christ,  the  Inspiration  and  Authority  of 
Holy  Scripture,  and  the  indwelling  in  some  form  or 
other  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Church.  As  a  sign 
of  this  faith  the  Sacraments  of  Baptism  and  Holy 
Communion  are  acknowledged  as  a  bond  of  union  by 
all  except  the  Society  of  Friends,  who  are  daily  be- 
coming a  less  important  exception,  while  they  still 
maintain  a  hold  on  central  truths,  and  have  done  not 
a  little  for  the  cause  of  Christian  peace  and  holiness. 
The  Socinians  and  Unitarians,  who  cling  to  the  skirts 
of  Christianity,  shew  evident  traces  of  their  inability 
to  hold  their  ground  between  supernatural  religion 
and  Deism,  shifting  readily  from  one  into  the  other. 

It  is  true  that  there  is  much  individual  doubt  and 
even  heresy,  probably,  in  all  Christian  communions, 
but  there  is  no  powerful  Church  which  is  here- 
tical on  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  faith. 
The  great  schisms  are  largely  due  to  differences  on 
points  of  doctrine  such  as  the  Filioque,  which  touch 
regions  of  theology  of  extreme  difficulty,  and  do  not 
bear  very  obviously  on  practical  conduct;  or  they 
have  turned  in  a  great  measure  upon  questions 
of  Church  government  and  discipline.  And  where 
more  practical  differences  of  doctrine  have  been  the 
main  cause,  reunion  has  been  seriously  hindered  by 
the  intrusion  of  the  secular  spirit  on  the  one  side, 


286  TJie  Peace  of  tJie  Church,  [Lect. 

and  the  resentment  against  it  on  the  other.  But 
even  these  deplorable  and  humiliating  divisions  bear 
witness  to  the  intense  reality  of  belief  in  the  Chris- 
tian body ;  its  desire  for  the  primary,  if  not  the  se- 
condary kind  of  unity ;  its  wish  to  hold  fast  even  in 
minor  points  to  the  Faith  once  for  all  delivered  to 
the  Saints.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  schismatic 
temper,  ungrateful  and  captious  though  it  is,  has 
often  acted  as  a  critical  check  upon  heresy.  No 
Church  feels  itself  absolutely  free  to  follow  its  own 
developments.  It  has  to  meet  opposition  and  censure, 
and  to  defend  itself  in  the  open  court  of  Christian 
controversy.  It  has  to  fall  back  upon  the  common 
ground  of  Scripture,  and  even  in  the  midst  of  its 
aberrations  it  must  confess  that  there  is  a  general 
unity  above  that  of  its  own  portion  of  the  field.  It 
is  hardly  possible  for  professing  Christians  to  fall  be- 
hind and  below  the  level  of  those  great  doctrines 
which  we  have  mentioned.  The  Church  can  never 
wake  up,  as  it  did  after  the  Council  of  Eimini  (a.d. 
359),  and  find  itself  groaning  under  the  shame  of  an 
Arian  creed.  There  is,  indeed,  a  real  danger  of  novel 
falsities  in  another  direction.  But  even  if  one  por- 
tion of  the  Church  invents  new  dogmas,  it  cannot 
claim  the  consent  of  the  Christian  world  without 
a  glaring  and  obvious  untruthfulness,  which  in  the 
end  must  tell  upon  its  own  members.  "We  may 
hope  that  a  sense  of  this  unreality  may,  in  some  day 
of  grace,  be  a  reason  for  the  withdrawal  and  recon- 
sideration of  the  doctrines  in  question. 

The  operation  of  this  check  is  visible  already  to 
some  extent.     It  will,  no  doubt,  be  felt  more  de- 


YIII.]  Prospects  of  future  Unity.  287 

cidedly  in  the  future,  when  superstition  passes  away 
before  a  wider  diffusion  of  intelligence  and  civil 
liberty,  and  when  what  are  now  comparatively  small 
bodies  (like  some  of  those  which  make  up  the  An- 
glican communion)  have  attained  their  full  growth 
and  power. 

3.  This  thought  leads  us  on  to  a  forecast  of  the 
future.  Here,  as  we  have  said,  we  have  real  and 
rational,  though  not  brilliant,  prospects  of  closer 
unity.  The  main  causes  of  schism  are  two,  and 
those  intimately  connected : — 1.  The  intrusion  of  the 
secular  spirit  into  the  Church  ;  and  2.  its  correlative 
opposite,  the  Pelagian  or  individual  tendency,  which 
dislikes  the  whole  principle  of  human  mediation. 
The  Church  of  Eome  has  been  the  great  offender 
under  the  first  head,  by  turning  her  own  spiritual 
power  into  a  secular  one :  while  the  Eastern  and 
Anglican  Churches,  with  the  Lutherans  of  the  Con- 
tinent, have  been  more  in  danger  of  treating  secular 
and  royal  power  as  if  it  were  spiritual.  The  Pro- 
testant sects,  on  the  other  hand,  have  resented  this 
intrusion  of  secularity,  in  whatever  form,  by  their 
tendency  to  the  contrary  error  of  denying  the  spi- 
rituality of  the  body,  and  localizing  it  in  the  indi- 
vidual. But  the  cloud  of  misconception  which  has 
made  such  different  errors  so  common  seems  slowly 
lifting  with  altered  circumstances. 

In  the  first  place  secular  rule,  which  has  been  so 
closely  associated  with  the  Church  since  the  time 
of  Constantino,  has  all  but  entirely  departed  from  it. 
The  temporal  power  of  the  papacy,  which  was  the 
most  distinct  embodiment  of  this  union,  passed  away 


288  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

about  eleven  years  ago  as  quietly  and  quickly  as 
a  dream  ^ ;  but  the  abolition  of  the  scattered  rem- 
nants of  spiritual  jurisdiction  in  temporal  affairs  had 
been  long  in  process  throughout  the  world.  With 
the  Yatican  Council,  the  last  effort  of  Papal  aggran- 
disement, and  the  entrance  of  the  Italian  troops  into 
liome,  which  followed  it  so  closely,  an  entirely  new 
period  of  Church  History  has  begun  ^.  In  that  Coun- 
cil the  Court  of  Eome  decreed  her  own  destruction, 
by  shewing  the  natural  outcome  of  her  tendency  to 
spiritual  pride  in  an  act  of  flagrant  self-assertion. 
Eome  has  done  a  grand  work  in  the  past  as  a  centre 
of  social  power,  keeping  mankind  together,  and  giv- 
ing them  a  lift  above  the  divisions  of  nationality  ^. 
Tor  this  work,  we  may  presume,  God  has  spared 
her  for  three  centuries  after  the  Council  of  Trent, 
when  danger  was  so  thick  about  her.  He  may  spare 
her  yet  again.  But  as  surely  as  Nebuchadnezzar 
pronounced  his  own  degradation  when  he  said,  "  Is 

*  The  dogma  of  Infallibility  was  proclaimed  at  Rome,  July  18, 
1870,  the  same  day  that  the  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of 
France  was  made  known  at  Berlin.  This  opened  Rome  to  the 
Italians  by  the  withdrawal  of  French  support;  the  troops  en- 
tered the  Porta  Pia  in  September,  and  in  October  the  city  was 
annexed  to  the  Italian  kingdom.  If  the  war  was  the  result  of 
Jesuitical  or  other  Roman  influence  on  French  politics  (as  Bis- 
marck asserted  in  1874),  the  connection  of  the  two  events  is  even 
more  striking.  See  his  speech  in  the  Prussian  chamber,  quoted 
in  the  New  Reformation,  p.  91. 

^  "Future  historians,''  says  Quirinus,  "  will  begin  a  new  period 
of  Church  history  with  July  18, 1870,  as  with  October  31,  1517  :" 
1.  c,  p.  90. 

®  Cp.  the  striking  passage  of  Guizot,  Lecture  xii.  p.  230,  quoted 
by  Dean  Church,  Influences  of  Chrktianity  on  National  Character, 
p.  105  ;  and  Abp.  Trench,  Mediceval  Church  History,  p.  154. 


VIII.]      The  Churches  of  Rome  a7id  England.  289 

not  this  great  Babylon  which  I  have  built?"  as 
surely  as  Herod  Agrippa  incurred  the  doom  of  those 
who  suffer  idolatrous  adulation  of  themselves,  so 
surely  did  the  Pope's  proclamation  of  his  own  In- 
fallibility condemn  him  to  the  fate  of  those  who 
ignore  their  own  human  frailty  when  exalted  to  the 
highest  position  as  ministers  of  God.  It  may  be 
long  ere  the  full  effect  of  this  capital  error  is  visible ; 
but  of  this  we  are  certain,  that  the  sword  of  perse- 
cution, whoever  henceforth  may  wield  it,  has  for 
ever  passed  away  from  the  grasp  of  the  Eoman 
Pontiff. 

This  revolution  which  has  taken  place  with  regard 
to  the  Church  of  Rome  extends  more  or  less  to  all 
other  Churches  having  a  connection  with  secular 
power.  "We  cannot  tell  exactly  how  far  the  change 
will  go,  but  it  is  morally  certain  that  toleration  for 
all  opinions  not  absolutely  anti-social  must  be  granted, 
sooner  or  later,  in  every  civilized  country.  How  far 
a  national  profession  of  religion  will  be  given  up  as 
a  result  of  this  toleration,  is  a  problem  likely  to  be 
decided  differently  by  different  nations,  according 
to  their  greater  or  less  common-sense.  Where  it 
still  happily  continues,  it  will  probably'  be  rather 
in  the  form  of  a  distinctly  realized  compact  between 
two  separate  powers,  than  the  confusion  of  offices 
which  at  present  to  some  extent  exists.  The  Royal 
Supremacy,  for  instance,  would  be  less  dangerous  to 
the  peace  of  mind  both  of  Churchmen  and  Dissenters, 
if  it  could  be  realized  as  the  fatherly  authority  of 
the  highest  lay  dignitary  of  the  Church,  a  nursing 
fatherhood  like  that  of  Ilezekiah  or  Josiah,  not  the 
u 


290  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

prerogative  of  the  Sovereign  as  a  representative  of 
merely  secular  power,  who,  like  Nero,  "bears  the 
sword"  to  enforce  civil  obedience  upon  all  his  sub- 
iects.  Such  a  power  as  the  last  must  indeed  exist 
and  control  the  Church,  as  far  as  it  possesses  tem- 
poralities;  not,  however,  as  a  result  of  the  Eoyal 
Supremacy,  but  as  a  necessary  part  of  all  sovereignty, 
belonging  to  the  office  of  a  ruler,  whatever  his  re- 
ligion. But  the  Eoyal  Supremacy  belongs  only  to 
the  Sovereign  as  a  Christian,  as  the  member  of  a 
spiritual,  not  a  secular  body;  and  if  exercised  as 
such, —  for  example,  by  providing  that  spiritual 
causes  should  only  be  tried  by  Christian  judges, 
fully  and  freely  approved  by  the  Church  and  fami- 
liar with  her  laws,— the  strongest  objections  which 
are  made  to  it  would  vanish. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  in  any  case 
one  great  barrier  to  union  will  be  removed  by  the 
loss  of  any  power  of  persecution  on  the  part  of  the 
Church.  The  transference  of  power  to  her  enemies, 
and  to  the  enemies  also  of  all  dogmatic  belief,  which 
has  in  some  cases  taken  place,  ought  also  to  strengthen 
internal  union.  It  is  clear  that  the  great  conflict  of 
the  immediate  future  will  be  one  on  the  most  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  religion  and  morals,  on  the  ex- 
istence of  God,  on  the  truth  of  a  future  life  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,  and  on  the  supremacy  of 
an  external  law  of  conduct.  A  feeling  of  agreement 
on  these  points,  joined  to  a  clearer  consciousness  of 
the  reason  of  this  agreement,  ought  to  drive  all 
Christians  closer  together  in  the  face  of  a  common 
enemy.     The  value  of  unity,  and  of  .the  blessings 


VIIL]  Duty  of  English  Churchmen.  291 

which  we  receive  through  the  Church,  must  needs 
grow  plainer  in  the  midst  of  this  conflict.  Men  will 
learn  that  without  revelation  they  could  not  even 
be  certain  of  these  primary  truths,  and  that  without 
the  grace  which  comes  through  the  body  of  Christ, 
the  highest  discipline  of  society  cannot  be  long  main- 
tained ''.  They  will  cease  to  cling  to  their  mere  in- 
dividualism, and  will  no  longer  think  it  strange  that 
God  should  have  ordained  a  continuous  ministry  from 
above,  when  they  perceive  its  value  as  a  guarantee 
of  purity  of  doctrine  and  independence  of  moral 
teaching.  "When  the  great  obstacle  of  individualism 
is  removed,  it  is  probable  that  an  independent  body 
like  the  Anglican  Church  will  grow  enormously  in 
strength,  and  will  be  able  to  influence  the  future 
of  Christendom  as  a  mediating  power  in  a  way  as 
yet  scarcely  conceived. 

Such  an  expectation  does  not  want  striking  ana- 
logies in  its  favour.  When  we  think  how  widely 
the  English  Constitution  has  served  as  a  political 
model  for  other  countries ;  when  we  remember  how 
the  material  inventions  of  our  engineers  have  as- 
sisted the  friendly  intercourse  of  all  nations,  and 
the  commerce  of  wealth  and  knowledge  by  land  and 

'  Eenan,  for  instance,  admits  the  danger — though  too  much  in 
the  spirit  of  Polybius  and  Varro — in  the  following  striking  words: — 
"Jouissons  de  la  liberte  des  fils  de  Ditu;  mais  prenons  garde  d'etre 
complices  de  la  diminution  de  vertu  qui  menagerait  nos  societes, 
si  le  christianisme  yenait  a  s'aflfaiblir.  Que  serious  nous  sans  lui  ? 
Qui  remplacera  ces  grandes  ecoles  de  serieui  et  de  respect  tclles 
que  Saint  -  Sulpice,  ce  ministere  de  devouement  des  Fillcs  de  la 
Charite  ?  Comment  n'etre  pas  cifraye  de  la  secheresse  de  cojur 
et  de  la  petitesse  qui  cnvahissent  le  mondo?" — Les  Aputres, 
p.lxiii.  ed.  1,  1866. 

u2 


292  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

sea, — why  should  we  fear  to  imagine  that  our  Church 
may  have  a  like  influence  on  Christian  unity  ?  It 
is,  and  must  remain  in  some  details,  the  Church  of 
a  single  nation,  but  it  may  nevertheless  be  a  source 
of  light  and  hope  to  other  nations ;  a  shining  proof 
that  order  and  liberty,  faith  and  reason,  can  be  united 
in  a  bond  of  Christian  love. 

In  the  meantime  it  is  ours  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of 
unity,  to  recognize  God's  work  wherever  it  appears, 
to  look  upon  those  that  are  separated  from  us  with 
eyes  of  affection,  to  admit  that  they  sometimes  have 
gifts  and  energies  that  we  have  not,  and  that  they 
realize  fragments  of  truth  of  which  we  have  lost 
sight.  The  time  has  not  yet  come  for  a  fusion,  except 
in  some  small  degree.  We  have  a  precious  deposit 
of  primitive  truth  which  we  have  no  right  to  sur- 
render, a  heritage  of  catholicity  and  order  which 
we  must  not  part  with  for  an  artificially-compacted 
"unity.  But  in  God's  good  time  will  come  the  draw- 
ing together  of  all  who  really  labour  for  peace. 

(2.)  The  attribute  of  Holiness^  like  that  of  Unity, 
does  not  take  its  rise  from  human  nature,  but  from 
divine  grace.  The  moral  beauty  of  Christian  life  is 
not  a  development  of  our  ordinary  powers,  such  as 
the  Utopian  and  the  Socialist  dream  of,  whereby  all 
goodness  shall  be  brought  out  by  culture  and  civili- 
zation, as  graceful  varieties  and  delicate  blossoms  are 
raised  by  careful  gardening  from  a  coarse  and  com- 
mon flower.  Mere  human  goodness  of  this  kind  is 
little  to  be  relied  upon.  It  makes  a  fair  outside, 
but  it  is  liable  to  sudden  collapse,  and  to  be  de- 
stroyed by  a  violent  burst  of  wildness  and  intemper- 


VIII.]         TJie  Life  of  Christ  in  Christians.  293 

ance  from  within.  Air  its  best,  this  orderly,  social 
sort  of  goodness  is  closely  akin  to  selfishness,  to  a 
love  of  comfort,  to  a  wrong  view  of  pain  and  suffer- 
ing, and  is  ignorant  or  intolerant  of  the  fact  of  sin. 
Ilence  those  who  make  morality  spring  from  below, 
not  from  above,  generally  avoid  the  term  holiness 
altogether,  or  travesty  and  misapply  it  as  the  Posi- 
tivists  do  in  speaking  of  the  "  holy  city  of  Paris." 

Nor  is  the  holiness  of  the  Church,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  result  of  law  and  discipline,  imposed  from 
the  outside  by  a  legislator.  Discipline  is  indeed 
a  necessary  part  of  Church -life,  but  the  object  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  outward  but  inward  ful- 
filment of  the  Law,  by  assimilation  of  a  Divine  life. 
Holiness  to  the  Christian  means  union  with  Christ, 
justification  by  faith  in  Him,  forgiveness  of  sins,  fol- 
lowed by  the  sanctifying  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Church  does  not  look  upon  Christ  so  much  as 
a  Lawgiver  or  Founder  of  a  religion,  but  rather  as 
being  the  religion  in  His  own  person.  The  Church 
is  not  only  His  kingdom,  but  His  body,  in  which  His 
heart  beats  and  His  divine  life  circulates.  To  be 
holy  is  to  partake  of  this  life,  in  which  there  is  an 
absolute  coincidence  of  free-will  and  obedience,  an 
acceptance  of  sacrifice  as  the  natural  work  of  a  hu- 
man being. 

For  just  as  in  the  Unity  of  the  divine  nature  there 
is  no  before  and  after,  no  priority  of  will  to  goodness, 
or  of  goodness  to  will,  but  a  perfect  eternal  coinci- 
dence of  the  two,  so  it  is  also  in  the  life  of  Christ. 
In  it  there  is  no  strife  of  motives ;  but  He  obeys,  and 
yet  at  the  same  moment  acts  with  perfect  freedom. 


294  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

Thus  He  tells  us,  ''  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of 
Him  that  sent  Me,  and  to  finish  His  work"  (John 
iv.  34),  that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  perfect  satisfaction  of 
His  own  desires;  and  of  His  atoning  sacrifice,  of 
laying  down  His  life.  He  says:  ''No  man  taketh  it 
from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  Myself.  I  have  power 
to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again. 
This  commandment  have  I  received  of  My  Father  " 
(John  X.  18). 

The  Church,  then,  is  a  society  of  the  redeemed,  of 
those  who  look  to  Christ  for  forgiveness  of  sin,  and 
who  strive  to  become  like  unto  Christ,  and  to  be  one 
with  Him.  ''Being  justified  by  faith  we  have  peace 
with  God."  This  is  the  ideal  of  holiness,  which  is 
very  far  from  being  attained  by  the  majority  of 
Christians.  But  the  reality  is  reached  by  some,  the 
glory  of  it  rests  in  their  better  moments  on  a  much 
larger  number,  and  the  germ  is  present,  we  believe, 
in  all.  The  hidden  life,  in  the  stir  and  bustle  of  the 
world,  cannot,  perhaps,  be  displayed  very  frequently ; 
but  it  is  attractive  even  when  it  is  covert,  and  often 
when  we  mourn  in  the  chamber  of  a  dying  friend 
do  we  first  learn  that  the  secret  of  his  winning, 
magnetic  power  was  a  constant  remembrance  of  the 
presence  of  God,  a  robe  of  holiness  worn  beneath 
the  outer  garb.  Often,  too,  as  death  draws  near, 
do  Christian  men  and  women  really  seem  to  touch 
upon  that  perfection  for  which  their  lives  have  been 
but  a  preparation,  losing  all  their  former  reluctance 
to  mould  their  wills  entirely  by  God's  will.  How 
many  have  expired  with  "Thy  will  be  done"  on  their 
lips  and  in  their  hearts !    How  many  martyrs  have 


J 


VIII.]  Christians  sanctified  hj  Death.  295 

received  their  sentence  of  death,  like  St.  Cyprian,  with 
a  simple  "  Deo  gratias,"  more  eloquent  than  the  most 
fervent  exhortation  which  they  may  have  longed  to 
utter  ^ !  How  many,  like  Monica,  the  mother  of  St. 
Augustine,  have  died  in  a  foreign  land,  giving  up 
the  cherished  thought  of  burial  among  their  dearest 
kindred,  and  saying,  "Nothing  is  far  from  GodM" 
How  many  have  left  their  fondest  plans  unfinished, 
resigning  them  contentedly  into  the  hands  of  Him 
who  gave  the  power  to  begin  them — "Qui  coepit 
opus  iste  perficiet^M"  How  many  strong  and  am- 
bitious men  have  gently  met  the  hard-  fate  that  came 
suddenly  to  cut  short  a  grand  career !  "We  may  per- 
haps recollect  Lord  Strafford's  speech  upon  the  scaf- 
fold: "I  come  here  to  submit  to  the  judgment  that 
is  passed  against  me :  I  do  it  with  a  very  quiet  and 
contented  mind;  I  do  freely  forgive  all  the  world; 
a  forgiveness,  not  from  the  teeth  outward,  but  from 
my  heart.  I  speak  it  in  the  presence  of  Almighty- 
God,  before  whom  I  stand,  that  there  is  not  a  dis- 

^  Cacilii  Cypriani  Acta  Froconsularia,  cap.  4.  The  proconsul 
read  the  sentence,  "Thascium  Cypiianum  gladio  animadverti  pla- 
cet." Cyprianus  episcopus  dixit:  "  Deo  gratias,"  He  had  hoped, 
it  seems,  to  be  inspired  to  prophecy,  writing  in  his  last  letter 
{£p.  81),  "  quodcumque  enini  sub  ipso  confessionis  momento  con- 
fessor episcopus  loquitur,  aspirante  Deo,  ore  omnium  loquitur;" 
but  no  such  gilt  of  prophecy  was  vouchsafed  to  him.  Cp.  Bp. 
E.  W.  Benson's  article,  Cyprianus,  in  Smith  and  Wace's  Diet,  of 
Chr.  Biograyhy,  vol.  i.  p.  754. 

»  St.  Augustine,  Confessions,  ix.  11. 

1°  "Confidens  hoc  ipsum,  quia  qui  coepit  in  vobis  opus  bonum, 
perficiet  usque  in  diem  Chiisti  Jesu."  Philip,  i.  6,  Vulg.  The 
words  in  the  text  were  used  by  S.  Francis  de  Sales  on  his  death- 
bed.    See  his  Life,  by  Mrs.  Lear,  p.  2 64. 


296  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

pleasing  thought  that  ariseth  in  me  against  any 
man^^"  This  was  surely  a  triumph  of  Christian 
holiness ;  and  hardly  less  striking  are  the  words  of 
Joseph  Scaliger,  whom  perhaps  we  think  of  merely 
as  a  scholar  of  enormous  learning  and  overbearing 
temper:  "I  begin  to  feel  and  perceive  the  joys  of 
eternal  life.  I  shall  soon  behold  Him  who  was  sa- 
crificed for  men;  I  long  for  the  blessed  sight.  All 
else  to  me  is  dross :  there  is  nothing  that  could 
make  me  wish  to  live  one  hour  longer  ^^." 

These  are  visible  proofs  of  the  peace  of  God  ruling 
in  single  hearts.  Nor  are  they  wanting  in  larger 
bodies  of  men.  The  precepts  to  "honour  all  men" 
(1  Pet.  ii.  17),  to  see  in  every  human  being,  how- 
ever weak,  a  "brother  for  whom  Christ  died"  (1  Cor. 
viii.  11),  an  immortal  soul  capable  of  serving  God 
in  heavenly  glory,  have  slowly  made  themselves  felt 
in  general  politics  as  well  as  in  private  life.  There 
is  something  like  a  gradual  sanctification  of  nations, 
however  incomplete  it  appears  when  measured  by  an 
ideal  standard.  Christianity  gave  to  the  Greek  races, 
for  instance, — as  the  many  centuries  of  Byzantine  his- 
tory go  to  prove, — a  seriousness  and  earnestness  of 
character,  a  sense  of  equality  and  brotherhood,  a 
permanence  of  resolute  hope,  which  philosophy  had 
quite  failed  to  impart  to  them.  It  has  stirred  the 
powerful,  sluggish  souls  of  the  Latin  races,  and  given 

"  Quoted  more  at  length  by  Dr.  Mozley,  Lord  Strafford  in 
British  Critic,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  534,  1843  ^^Ussays,  vol.  ii.  p.  101, 
1878. 

^^  See  Dr.  W.  Kay,  Promises  of  Christianity,  in  the  Calcutta  Mis- 
sionary, vol.  iv.  p.  261  ;  since  reprinted  (Parkers,  1855),  and  con- 
taining much  material  bearing  on  the  subject  of  this' lecture. 


VIII.]         Christian  Legislation.     Slavery.  297 

them  a  new  capacity  of  the  affections,  of  feeling, 
loving  and  imagining.  It  has  developed  in  the 
Teutons  of  the  north  that  respect  for  truthfulness, 
manliness,  and  hard  work,  that  reverence  for  law  and 
liberty,  that  delight  in  the  pure  and  tender  charities 
of  home,  of  which  the  germs  were  discerned  by 
Tacitus  ^^  Such — as  has  been  well  remarked — are 
its  prominent  moral  effects  upon  the  three  greatest 
of  western  peoples,  and  a  similar  influence  may  be 
observed  in  all  others.  It  is  true  that  much  remains 
still  undone,  that  there  are  survivals  of  brutal  and 
ferocious  instincts  in  all  Christian  nations,  and  that 
some  of  the  greatest  crimes,  and  the  most  fatal  blun- 
ders, have  followed  a  misuse  of  what  were  taken  to 
be  Christian  principles.  Yet  we  can  most  surely 
trace  in  history  not  only  a  direct  carrying  out  of 
Gospel  precepts  in  legislation,  but  also  an  ever  ger- 
minant  sense  of  right,  lying  dormant  perhaps  for 
centuries,  but  ready  to  spring  up,  to  suggest  im- 
provement, and  to  correct  mistake  and  crime,  so  that 
no  Christian  nation  is  without  hope  from  within. 

If  we  look  to  direct  effects,  it  is  certain  that  the 
legislation  of  the  Eoman  empire  after  Constantino 
bears  witness  to  a  sense  of  the  honour  of  humanity 
and  of  the  holiness  of  human  life,  very  different  from 
that  which  was  before  perceptible.  We  observe  at 
once  the  prohibition  of  infanticide,  a  better  treat- 
ment of  prisoners,  an  abolition  of  certain  atrocities 

1'  I  have  here  summed  up  the  thesis  of  Dean  Church's  three 
Lectures,  On  some  Infiuences  of  Christianity  upon  N'ational  Cha- 
racter, (Lond.,  1873,)  to  which  the  reader  is  referred  for  many 
beautiful  illustrations. 


298  The  Peace  of  the  Church,  [Lect. 

of  punishment,  an  attempt  to  stop  the  gladiatorial 
spectacles,  the  suppression  or  alleviation  of  the  most 
degrading  kinds  of  slavery  and  the  facilitation  of  en- 
franchisement, the  weakening  of  the  despotic  power 
of  the  father  of  a  family,  the  elevation  of  the  law  of 
marriage,  the  check  put  upon  divorce  and  the  like  ^*. 

Slavery  was  not,  indeed,  prohibited  directly  by 
any  precept  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  a  greater  triumph, 
a  wiser  and  nobler  policy,  to  effect  this  momentous 
revolution  in  peace,  to  draw  out  the  good  side  of  the 
relation,  and  make  the  master  gentle  and  the  slave 
hopeful  and  courageous,  than  to  proclaim  a  servile 
war.  But  the  abolition  of  slavery  has  been  the  ne- 
cessary, though  gradual,  result  of  any  real  assimila- 
tion of  Christian  principles  ^^ 

It  is  true  that  a  new  kind  of  servitude  is  an  in- 
vention of  Christian  Europe,  of  English  and  Spanish 
adventurers;  and  that  negro  slavery  in  the  West 
Indies  was  even  promoted,  by  Las  Casas  and  others, 
on  distinct  grounds  of  a  mistaken  Christian  philan- 
thropy. But  the  conscience  of  Christendom,  though 
it  seemed  to  sleep,  at  last  awoke,  and  the  general 

"  I  have  put  together  some  details  of  this  legislation  in  my 
article  on  Constantine,  in  Smith  and  Wace's  Diet,  of  Chr.  Bio- 
graphy, vol.  i.  pp.  635 — 637. 

^*  On  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  slavery  the  reader  should 
specially  consult  H.  Wallon,  Eistoire  de  Vesclavage  dans  PAntiquite, 
tom.  iii.  chaps,  i.  and  viii. — x.,  New.  Ed.  (Paris,  1879.)  Cp.  also 
Prof.  Goldwin  Smith's  powerful  pamphlet,  Does  the  Bible  Sanction 
American  Slavery?  (Oxford,  1863.)  The  Ellerton  Essay  for  1869, 
Slavery  as  affected  by  Christianity,  by  E.  S.  Talbot  (now  Warden  of 
Keble  College),  contains  a  judicious  summary  of  the  whole  subject 
of  ancient  and  modern  slavery.  It  is,  unfortunately,  only  pri- 
vately printed. 


VIII.]     Self -corr ective  poioer  of  Christianity.  299 

abolition  of  slavery  and  the  repression  of  the  slave- 
trade  is  the  work  mainly  of  this  century.  The  ger- 
minarit  self-corrective  power  of  our  religion  asserted 
itself,  and  the  terrible  reproach  has  been  rolled  away. 
The  great  crime  and  the  great  blunder  has  been  re- 
pented of,  and  the  sacrifice,  we  trust,  accepted. 

It  would  be  easy  to  point  to  other  cases  of  Chris- 
tian principle  gradually  asserting  itself  to  sanctify 
society.  We  see  it,  for  instance,  in  the  different 
treatment  of  the  lower  races,  where  Christian  per- 
ceptions are  strong,  and  where  they  are  weak.  Ex- 
termination, depression  and  contempt  on  the  one 
side,  preservation,  sympathy  and  elevation  on  the 
other,  mark  the  two  opposite  modes  of  treatment. 
Professing  Christians  have,  alas !  often  been  guilty 
of  the  one,  but  scarcely  any  but  Christians  have 
attained  to  the  other  ^^ 

Much  yet  remains  to  be  done  to  roll  away  other 
reproaches,  as,  for  instance,  with  regard  to  national 

IS  On  this  subject  see  Sir  Bartle  Frere's  Lecture,  referred  to 
above,  pp.  311 — 316. 

The  fair  treatment  of  the  Ainos  by  the  Japanese  government,  is 
described  by  Miss  Bird,  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan,  vol.  ii. ;  but 
they  are  left,  nevertheless,  in  a  state  of  hopeless  ignorance. 

The  evil  influence  of  Europeans  on  the  native  races,  is  well 
described  by  Gerland,  Bas  Aussterlcn  der  Naturrolker,  which  should 
be  read  by  all  missionaries.  He  lays  e.g.  great  stress  on  the  de- 
pressing, melancholy  effect  of  an  overbearing  civilization  suddenly 
transplanted  into  the  midst  of  an  uncultured  race.  It  is  now 
fairly  understood  that  a  very  gradual  alteration  in  the  mode  of 
social  life  is  necessary,  if  religion  is  to  take  a  firm  hold  of  a  people. 
We  hear  from  all  quarters — India,  Japan,  New  Zealand,  Melanesia, 
Zanzibar,  &c., — of  the  difficulty  of  this  problem.  The  history  of 
the  conversion  of  Saxon  England  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  ex- 
amples of  what  may  be  done  to  meet  it. 


300  TJie  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

intemperance,  the  opium  traffic  ^^,  and  the  protection 
of  women  ^^.  Great  blunders  are  made  still,  and  great 
crimes  committed  and  palliated  for  a  time.  But  the 
conscience  is  not  absolutely  dormant.  Self-interest 
and  selfishness  will  be  driven  to  take  refuge  in  corner 
after  corner,  and  in  the  end  holiness  and  justice  will 
prevail.  Or  at  least,  if  they  do  not,  history  teaches 
in  the  largest  letters,  that  punishment  and  destruc- 
tion must  fall  on  the  guilty  nation.  Christ  came  to 
bring  peace,  but  He  also  came  to  bring  a  sword. 
Holiness  He  will  have ;  and  the  sacrifice,  if  not  salted 
with  salt,  will  be  salted  at  least  with  fire. 

(3.)  Catholicity  is  the  third  of  those  great  attributes 
of  the  Church,  which  reflect  the  image,  and  testify  to 
the  indwelling,  of  the  Divine  Nature.   As  the  Church 

^^  For  an  eloquent  and  well-grounded  statement  of  the  national 
guilt  of  this  traffic,  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  an  article  on 
The  Opium  Trade  with  China  in  the  Church  Quarterly  Review  for 
Oct.,  1876,  vol.  iii.  pp.  1 — 33  [an  expansion  of  a  paper  read  before 
the  Oxford  Missionary  Association  of  Graduates  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Hol- 
land], and,  for  suggestions  as  to  what  may  be  done  to  clear  our- 
selves from  it,  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere's  paper  read  at  the  Newcastle 
Church  Congress,  Oct.  5,  1881,  and  a  letter  of  Dr.  Kay's  in  the 
London  Guardian^  Oct.  26,  1881.  Sir  B.  Frere  advises,  as  a  first 
step,  giving  up  the  Calcutta  monopoly,  and  assimilating  the  prac- 
tice in  Eastern  India  to  that  in  Bombay  and  elsewhere.  Dr.  Kay, 
Dr.  Legge,  and  Cardinal  Manning  advocate  the  retention  of  the 
monopoly,  and  a  gradual  reduction  of  opium  cultivation  on  our 
side,  under  treaty  with  China  permitting  her  to  prohibit  the  im- 
port entirely  within  a  given  number  of  years. 

^^  For  a  summary  of  what  has  been  done  by  legislation  for  the 
protection  of  women,  and  for  suggestions  of  further  measures,  see 
the  "  (confidential)  statements  prepared  for  the  Committee  of  the 
Lower  House  of  the  Convocation  of  Canterbury "  by  Admiral  A. 
P.  Ryder,  forming  Appendices  A.  and  B.  to  the  Chronicle  of  Con- 
vocation, session  May  17,  &c.,  1881,  published  by  Eivingtons. 


YIIL]  CatJiolicity.     St.  Ctjril  301 

is  one,  because  the  Blessed  Trinity  is  one,  in  single- 
ness and  concord,  and  as  it  is  Holy  by  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  Divine  Life,  so  it  is  Catholic  because  God 
is  omnipotent,  omnipresent,  and  eternal,  and  because 
Christ  has  been  exalted  in  His  human  nature  to  the 
right  hand  of  God,  and  has  thence  sent  forth  the  Holy 
Spirit  into  all  our  hearts.  Catholicity  is  the  working 
of  that  mighty  uplifting  power,  that  transcendant 
energy  which  raised  our  Lord  from  the  dead,  after 
that  He  had  descended  into  the  lower  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  exalted  Him  far  above  all  heavens,  that 
He  might  fill  all  things  from  highest  to  lowest.  It 
is  the  power  of  the  Eesurrection,  that  power  of  God, 
which  "  hath  put  all  things  under  His  feet,  and  gave 
Him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  which 
is  His  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in 
all"  (Eph.  i.  22,  23;  iv.  9,  10,  &c.). 

"  The  Church  is  called  Catholic,"  says  St.  Cyril  of  Jeru- 
salem (in  his  Catechetical  Lectures,  xviii.  23),  "because  it  ex- 
tends through  all  the  world,  from  one  end  of  the  earth  unto 
the  other ;  and  because  it  teaches  catholically,  and  without 
defect,  all  doctrines  which  ought  to  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  all  men,  both  about  things  visible  and  invisible,  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  ;  and  because  it  subjects  every  race  of  men  to 
true  religion,  both  rulers  and  ruled,  learned  and  unlearned ; 
and  because  it  universally  treats  and  heals  every  species  of 
sins  that  are  committed  by  soul  and  body ;  and  because  it 
has  in  possession  every  kind  of  virtue  that  is  named  in  deeds 
and  words,  and  every  sort  of  spiritual  gifts." 

To  the  notion  of  extent  with  which  St.  Cyril  begins 
this  summary,  we  should,  I  suppose,  add  universality 
of  time,  and  so  enlarge  the  idea  of  place  as  to 
include  the  invisible  world;    and  then  his  fivefold 


302  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

description  will  be  no  imperfect  picture  of  the  ideal 
comprehensiveness  of  the  Church.  It  embraces  the 
whole  world,  visible  and  invisible,  past,  present,  and 
future,  the  dead,  as  well  as  the  living ;  it  teaches  and 
harmonises  all  truth ;  it  disciplines  all  mankind,  with- 
out distinction  of  race  or  class ;  it  heals  all  sin ;  it 
consecrates  every  virtue  and  faculty  of  the  soul. 
Merely  to  aim  at  this  ideal  is  a  Divine  work;  so 
broad  in  its  scope  and  measure,  that  the  name  Ca- 
tholic has  often  been  chosen  as  the  most  distinctive 
epithet  of  the  Church,  as  the  one  emphatic  term 
which  most  fills  the  imagination,  and  stimulates 
the  moral  life. 

Actual  fulfilment  falls  no  doubt  very  short  of  the 
ideal.  Life,  as  we  see  it,  is  fragmentary,  inchoate, 
and  confused.  God  (as  we  are  learning  from  all 
sides)  does  no  work  suddenly,  but  patiently,  and, 
as  we  are  apt  to  say,  naturally.  The  simplest  civi- 
lization is  a  work  of  long  time,  how  long  we  can 
perhaps  only  guess.  Much  more  does  the  work  of 
the  Church,  a  higher,  holier,  harder,  less  intelligible 
work,  require  many  generations  for  its  full  issue. 
What  the  Church  has  done  is  only  a  foretaste,  a  pro- 
phecy of  what  it  is  to  do.  But  think  of  what  it  has 
done,  what  it  is  clearly  called  to  do  in  the  great 
provinces  of  action^  thought^  and  feeling^  which  em- 
brace, in  some  sense,  the  whole  of  human  life. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  Church  is  the  chief,  though 
not  the  only,  organ  by  which  the  human  race  has  felt 
its  common  nature,  and  has  been  roused  to  common 
action.  The  Church  has  proclaimed  the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  of  which  men  knew  somewhat. by  nature, 


YIII.]  Influence  on  Common  Action.  303 

with  a  fresh  emphasis,  and  in  a  new  sense.  It  has 
taught  men  of  dijfferent  castes  and  orders  that  they 
were  all  members  of  one  family.  It  has  penetrated 
into  all  the  relations  of  life,  and  vivified  them  by 
a  sense  that  they  depend  upon  kinship  through  the 
eternal  Father.  It  has  specially  given  new  strength 
to  family  ties,  abolishing  polygamy,  and  making  each 
home  a  centre  of  purity.  It  has  enforced  the  dig- 
nity and  the  absolute  duty  of  labour,  according  to 
St.  Paul's  maxim,  that  "  if  any  would  not  work, 
neither  should  he  eat "  (2  Thess.  iii.  10  ;  cp.  1  Thess. 
iv.  11).  It  has  set  its  seal,  not  only  on  the  more 
conspicuous  and  brilliant  virtues,  but  on  the  social 
qualities  of  courtesy,  cheerfulness,  and  contentment. 
It  has  led  men  to  take  an  interest  in  society,  and 
in  the  business  of  government,  since  we  are  "all 
members  one  of  another."  By  its  Councils,  it  de- 
monstrated to  the  world  the  value  of  the  system  of 
representation;  by  its  internal  discipline,  it  has  led 
the  way  to  a  more  rational  legislation;  by  its  hos- 
pitals, its  leper-houses,  its  penitentiaries,  by  its  so- 
cieties for  the  redemption  of  captives  ^^,  by  its  homes 
and  refuges  for  the  distressed,  the  Church  has  pro- 
claimed the  worth  of  weak  or  degraded  human  lives, 
and  that  in  centuries  when  it  was  not  a  little  corrupt 
and  darkened;  by  its  schools  and  colleges  it  saved 
the  culture  of  the  old  world  from  the  destructive 
flood  of  barbarism;  it  has,  for  the  most  part,  stood 
in  the  forefront  of  learning,  and  has  never  been  con- 
tent to  fall  entirely   into  the   background;    by  its 

^'  On  such  Societies  during  the  Middle  Ages,  cp.  Abp.  Trench, 
Mediceval  Church  History,  pp.  411 — 413. 


304  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

missions,  destined  to  make  disciples  of  every  people, 
it  has  broken  down  the  barriers  of  nationality,  bind- 
ing all  its  members  by  subjection  to  one  Lord,  and 
by  rules  of  conduct  far  higher  than  the  laws  or  cus- 
toms of  earthly  kingdoms. 

That  the  organization  thus  created  has  been  in 
many  respects  weak,  and  in  many  quarters  maimed 
and  broken,  that  the  action  has  not  always  been  an 
unmixed  good,  we  know  only  too  well.  Sometimes 
the  working  of  the  deepest  and  most  sacred  emotion 
upon  large  bodies  of  men  has  been  disfigured,  as  in 
the  Crusades,  by  much  that  is  selfish,  and  has  ended 
in  apparent  failure.  But  the  Crusades  (which  we 
may  take  as  an  example  of  these  mixed  efi'ects  of 
Christianity)  were,  nevertheless,  a  great  common 
religious  enterprise,  full  of  happy  consequence.  To 
them  is  due  a  consciousness  of  unity  among  the 
nations  of  the  "West,  like  that  which  the  tribes  of 
Greece  are  said  to  have  gained  by  combining  in 
the  Trojan  war,  a  consciousness  which  all  subse- 
quent wars  and  jealousies  have  not  destroyed  ^°.  It 
was  surely  a  great,  we  may  even  say,  an  incalculable, 
gain,  that  Moslem  arms,  then  threatening  "Western 
civilization,  were  driven  back  for  two  centuries  from 
the  walls  of  Constantinople.  It  would  also  be  mere 
affectation  and  insensibility  to  what  is  noble  to  de- 
spise the  religious  consecration  then  given  to  the 
profession  of  arms,  and  the  virtues  of  chivalry,  which 
have  done  so  much  to  make  modern  warfare  better 
than  it  was  of  old.     In  spite  of  all  mistakes,  there 

^°  Thucydides,  i.  3.  Cp.  Abp.  Trench,  Mediceval  Church  History, 
pp.  142— 144. 


VIII.]  The  Church  and  mUosophj.  305 

has  been  a  healthy  motion  and  a  stir  in  all  quarters 
of  the  Christian  world,  restlessly  seeking  for  peace, 
the  only  temper  that  can  give  hope  for  the  future. 

2.  In  the  world  of  thought^  again,  the  Church  has 
had  an  equally  important  mission,  giving  a  wholly 
new  coherence  to  knowledge  and  history  by  its  doc- 
trine of  the  Word  made  Flesh,  the  Divine  Logos,  who 
is  manifested  in  the  whole  order  of  the  Universe,  and 
by  whom  we  are  invested  with  a  glorious  freedom,  so 
ihat  all  things  are  ours  in  Him.  We  have  not,  in- 
deed, by  any  means  experienced  the  full  light  that 
issues  from  this  doctrine.  We  can  point,  no  doubt, 
with  gratitude  to  the  works  of  the  early  fiithers, 
especially  to  the  broad  and  generous  grasp  of  this 
doctrine  by  the  Church  of  Alexandria,  and  to  the 
immense  systematic  labours  of  the  medieeval  school- 
men, as  evidences  of  what  has  been  done  to  found 
a  universal  Christian  philosophy.  But  it  is  also  true 
that,  since  the  rise  of  the  modern  spirit  in  philo- 
sophy and  the  prominence  giren  to  the  inductive 
method  of  investigation,  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos 
has  been  too  much  thrown  into  the  background,  and 
the  cold  shadow  of  Deism  has  spread  over  great  part 
of  the  intellect  of  Europe  ~\ 

This  seems   at  first  sight  most  disheartenino-— a 

"  Bacon  himself  was  not  a  Deist,  but  rather  a  man  to  whom  the 
Biblical  revelation  was  very  real,  and  Mr.  Wace  goes  so  far  as  to 
state  his  opinion,  "that  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos  is  at  the  very- 
root  of  Baconian  thought."  Nevertheless  he  was  clearly  and  per- 
haps necessarily  anxious  to  separate  the  provinces  of  religion  and 
science,  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  his  friend  and  secretary, 
Thomas  Hobbcs,  was  the  father  of  Deism  in  England.  The  ten- 
dency of  English  natural  philosophers  to  Arianism,  when  not  dis- 
tinctly to  Deism,  is  also  very  marked. 
X 


306  Tlie  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lrcr 

withdrawal  of  Christ  from  the  world  of  thought. 
Yet,  even  in  this  obscuration,  faith  must  recognize 
the  Divine  agency  of  the  Logos,  preparing  the  way 
for  a  fuller  and  riper  system.  The  scholastic  phi- 
losophy, confusing  the  heterogeneous  mass  of  medi- 
aeval doctrines  with  entire  Catholic  truth,  and  ham- 
pered with  an  excessive  reverence  for  antiquity, 
had  become  a  tyranny,  a  burden  upon  thought. 
Men  were  taught,  a  priori^  how  things  ought  to 
be,  and  must  be ;  primary  Christian  truths,  and 
secondary  and  one-sided  developments  were  thrust 
upon  students,  with  an  equal  assurance  of  certainty ; 
notwithstanding  some  brilliant  exceptions,  the  study 
of  nature  was  neglected ;  and  it  was  necessary  to 
overthrow,  or  at  least  to  veil,  the  dominant  system, 
that  men  might  see  with  their  own  eyes  how  things 
really  were. 

If  sunlight  for  a  time  seemed  withdrawn  from  the 
field  of  science,  if  men  have  since  confined  themselves 
too  much  to  special  studies,  yet  their  merit  is  to 
have  really  worked,  really  to  have  interrogated  na- 
ture, and  to  have  laboured  calmly  and  without  fear 
or  distraction  ^^.  The  history  of  their  work  is  also  full 
of  instruction  and  encouragement.  Since  the  fall  of 
the  scholastic  philosophy,  to  which  Bacon  so  much 
contributed,  the  generalisations,  commonly  called  the 
Laws  of  Nature,  have  been  slowly  and  gradually 
built  up.     At  first  they  struggled  hard   for  tolera- 

^'^  On  the  absolute  duty  of  work  upon  what  is  close  about  us, 
as  set  forth  by  Bacon,  with  reference  to  the  commands  to  Adam  in 
the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  see  the  excellent  remarks  of  Mr. 
Wace,  Note  7a,  pp.  268 — 275,  of  his  Barapton  Lectures. 


VIII.]  Iki'sm,  Fantheisnij  Positivism.  307 

tion;  tlion  they  won  a  difficult  but  complete  vic- 
tory ;  and  again,  when  accepted,  seemed  likely  to 
exercise  as  harsh  and  as  stiff  a  tyranny  as  the 
a  priori  systems  which  they  supplanted.  But  a 
corrective  has  gradually  been  supplied  in  the  his- 
torical and  comparative  methods, — the  observation 
of  succession  and  analogy, — which  have,  in  recent 
times,  so  largely  supplemented  the  purely  inductive 
method. 

The  idea  of  Law,  conceived  as  a  formula  capable 
of  enunciation  once  for  all  in  set  terms,  and  having 
an  eternal,  changeless  validity,  has  gradually  given 
way  before  that  of  Process  in  almost  all  departments 
of  scientific  observation.  The  most  solid  facts  are 
found  to  undergo  a  change ;  the  realm  of  life,  or  of 
growth  analogous  to  life,  is  seen  expanding  marvel- 
lously before  our  eyes,  till  every  thing  appears  to 
be  involved  in  it.  Many  minds  have  in  consequence 
swung  back  from  Deism  to  Pantheism,  and  Evolution 
has,  to  some  men,  taken  the  place  of  God.  But  Deism 
and  Pantheism  are  both  so  irrational,  so  utterly  in- 
adequate to  explain  the  simplest  facts  of  our  moral 
and  spiritual  life,  that  neither  of  them  can  long  hold 
mankind  together.  Positivism,  which  has  made  a 
systematic  and  memorable  attempt  to  fill  the  gap, 
itself  bears  witness  to  the  craving  of  human  nature 
for  some  stronger  bond  than  such  systems  can  sup- 
ply; while  its  appreciation  of  the  necessity  of  reli- 
gion, gives  it  an  importance  not  possessed  by  mere 
Agnosticism. 

Yet  it  is  impossible  to  look  at  an  encyclopaedic 
attempt  to  grasp  all  knowledge  and  all  history,  such 
X  2 


308  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

as  that  made  by  the  founder  of  Positivism,  without 
a  deep,  oppressive  sadness.  That  all  this  effort,  so 
powerful  and  so  penetrating  in  many  of  its  parts, 
however  grotesque  and  open  to  criticism  in  some 
of  its  details,  should  end  in  so  puerile  a  result  as  the 
deification  of  humanity,  seems  to  strike  one  with 
despair,  as  to  the  benefits  to  be  expected  from  thought 
and  knowledge  apart  from  faith. 

Can  men  heap  fact  upon  fact,  and  connect  science 
with  science  in  a  splendid  hierarchy,  and  find  no 
better  end  than  this?  Is  such  a  review  to  come 
to  this,  that  we  must  worship  either  actual  humanity, 
with  all  its  meanness  and  wickedness,  or  ideal  hu- 
manity, which  does  not  yet  exist,  and  if  this  world 
is  all  in  all  may  never  come  into  being  ?  Are  we  to 
worship  either  vice  and  wickedness,  side  by  side 
with  goodness,  or  a  mere  hope  of  something  which 
on  the  Positivist  hypothesis  must  always  remain 
weak  and  ignorant  ? 

Por  ideal  humanity,  however  moral  and  enlight- 
ened, if  unaided  by  God,  as  the  Positivist  holds, 
is  still  earth-bound  and  sense-bound.  It  clearly  can 
never  understand  the  simplest  of  the  laws  or  pro- 
cesses of  nature  on  this  earth ;  much  less  can  it 
understand  the  nature  of  the  Universe,  which  is 
nightly  displayed  to  our  contemplation,  when  earth 
is  shadowed  in  darkness,  as  if  to  draw  our  eyes 
by  force  from  fixing  ourselves  on  what  we  have  too 
close  about  us.  Science,  while  it  opens  many  things 
to  us,  discloses  also,  pari  passu,  the  narrow  limits 
of  our  powers  of  knowledge.  We  are  told  that  it  is 
common  sense  to  recognize  that  much  is  beyond  us. 


YIII.J        Positivism  needs  the  Incarnation.  309 

Perfectly  true.  Eut  it  is  not  common  sense  to  wor- 
ship an.  ignorant  and  weak  humanity,  which  certainly 
made  nothing,  and  has  in  itself  no  assurance  of  con- 
tinuance in  the  future,  nay,  rather,  a  very  clear  pro- 
bability of  destruction,  if  simply  left  to  itself. 

What  Positivism  surely  needs  to  give  it  hope  and 
consistency  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos,  of  the 
eternal  Word  and  Eeason,  the  Creator,  Orderer,  and 
Sustainer  of  all  things,  who  has  taken  a  stainless 
human  nature  that  He  might  make  men  capable  of 
all  knowledge.  This  divine  humanity  of  the  Logos, 
drawing  mankind  into  Himself,  is,  indeed,  worthy 
of  all  worship.  In  loving  Him,  we  learn  really  what 
it  is  to  "live  for  others."  In  looking  to  Him,  we 
cease  from  selfishness  and  pride.  Such  a  worship  of 
humanity  is  not  a  mere  baseless  hope,  but  a  reality 
appearing  in  the  very  midst  of  history,  a  reality  ap- 
prehended by  Faith  indeed,  but  by  a  Faith  always 
proving  itself  to  those,  and  by  those,  who  hold  it 
fast  in  Love  -^. 

There  is  room  then,  ample  room,  and  a  loud  de- 
mand for  the  re-establishment  of  a  Christian  philo- 
sophy, based  upon  the  Incarnation.  It  must  clearly 
accept  all  known  facts,  but  must  be  very  careful 
to  remember  that  the  hypotheses  of  science  are  always 
in  process  of  correction.  It  must  not  confound  truth 
with  transitional  inferences  from  facts  of  Nature, 
any  more  than  with  secondary  and  one-sided  de- 
velopments of  Theology.     But  even  with  this  cau- 

-^  Oa  the  relations  of  Positivism  to  Christianity,  the  reader 
should  consult  Dr.  Westcott's  Essays  in  the  Contemporary  Review, 
vols.  vi.  and  yiii.  in  the  numbers  for  Dec.  18G7,  and  July,  18G8. 


310  The  Peace  of  the  CJmrch,  [Lect, 

tioQ  such  a  philosophy  will  by  no  means  be  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  Bible  and  the  Creeds.  The  form  it 
takes,  like  that  of  scholasticism,  may  pass  away.  It 
may  reign  for  a  time,  and  do  good  work,  and  then 
be  found  wanting.  But  it  is  clearly  demanded  of  the 
Catholic  Church  that  it  should  now  provide  such  a 
step  towards  the  stronger  and  riper  knowledge,  which, 
in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  Son  of  God  will  reveal  to 
those  that  love  Him ;  that,  when  that  time  comes, 
we  may  have  minds  exercised  and  prepared  to  re- 
ceive the  glorious  message.  The  form  of  knowledge 
will  vanish  away ;  but  the  capacity  for  it,  and  the 
temper  suitable  to  its  reception,  must  be  fully  edu- 
cated, if  the  Church  on  earth  is  to  be  the  seed-plot 
of  the  Church  in  Heaven. 

3.  We  have  spoken  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  an 
organizer  of  active  life,  and  as  a  teacher  of  philoso- 
phic truth.  But  little  need  be  said  of  its  obvious 
functions  as  an  educator  of  feeling.  Whether  we 
consider  feeling  as  an  objective  sense  of  beauty, 
or  as  an  inward  personal  emotion,  the  Church  has 
confessedly  had  command  of  both  regions  of  the 
heart.  Beauty  has  been  recognized  and  loved  with 
a  new  and  unselfish  love,  as  a  divine  gift,  and  the 
power  of  art  has  been  venerated  as  an  operation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  who  gives  a  new  spirit  to  the  wise- 
hearted  and  cunning  craftsman.  Some  arts  have, 
indeed,  been  shunned  or  practised  with  less  success 
in  Christendom,  partly  through  fear  of  their  misuse, 
partly  because  they  were  less  capable  of  giving  ex- 
pression to  any  deep  movement  or  varied  tone  of 
feeling.     Thus   the   Eastern   Church   has   been   left 


VIIL]  Christian  Art  and  Literature.  oil 

in  a  low  stage  of  artistic  culture,  chiefly,  we  may 
suppose,-  through  a  fear  of  the  heathen  associations 
which  clung  to  many  forms  of  art ;  while  the  stage 
has  never  wholly  cleared  itself  in  any  country  from 
the  atmosphere  of  degradation  into  which  ancient 
Eome  had  plunged  it.  Sculpture,  again,  has  suffered 
both  from  puritanical  prejudice  and  from  its  apparent 
incapacity  to  express  many  of  the  more  subtle  and 
intimate  emotions  which  Christianity  has  been  par- 
ticularly destined  to  propagate. 

Hence  music,  painting,  and  architecture  have  be- 
come specially  Christian  arts,  and  have  flourished 
nowhere  so  thoroughly  as  when  they  have  been 
handmaids  of  religion.  Side  by  side  with  these 
arts,  poetry  and  imaginative  literature  have  imbibed 
a  wholly  new  spirit  and  a  new  sense  of  pathos,  dis- 
tinguished specially  by  a  reverence  for  weakness  as 
well  as  strength,  a  perception  of  joy  springing  out 
of  sorrow,  a  hope  of  resurrection,  an  acceptance  of 
the  life  of  Christ  as  the  acme  of  beauty  as  well  as 
the  law  of  conduct.  This  spirit  is  visible  not  only 
in  the  hymns  of  the  Church,  which  ring  in  the  ears 
of  the  sick  and  dying,  when  all  other  sounds  are 
stilled;  not  only  in  such  distinctly  Christian  poets 
as  Dante  and  Milton, — one  the  greatest,  the  other 
among  the  greatest  minds,  of  their  respective  na- 
tions,— but  also  in  the  tone  of  refinement  and  of  true 
human  brightness  spread  over  the  greater  part  of 
modern  literature.  It  is  this  which  is  the  secret 
of  the  undying  power  of  writers  like  Shakespeare 
and  Scott,  who  do  not  make  a  special  show  of  re- 
ligion, and  of  the  comparative  failure  of  others  of 


312  The  Peace  of  the  Church,  [Lect. 

scarcely  less  genius,  who  are  disfigured  by  hopeless- 
ness, coarseness,  or  an  affected  paganism.  The  im- 
portance of  the  hold  which  the  Church  has  upon 
society  through  such  means  as  these  can  scarcely  be 
over-estimated  ;  but  we  cannot  be  satisfied  with  what 
has  been  already  done.  It  is  a  truly  noble  ambition 
to  sanctify  all  arts,  to  bring  all  that  is  beautiful  into 
the  service  of  Christ,  to  infuse  into  all  that  attracts 
the  eye  or  charms  the  ear  or  delights  the  mind  the 
joy  and  peace  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  cultivation  of  interior  feeling  or  sentiment  is 
equally  the  work  of  the  Church.  All  the  keys  of  the 
human  heart,  from  the  tumultuous  passion  of  repent- 
ance to  the  refinement  and  grace  of  a  placid  and  un- 
ruffled life,  are  given  by  our  Lord  to  His  Body. 
But  specially  the  call  upon  the  sinner  to  save  his 
soul  and  join  himself  to  Christ,  and  to  receive  the 
Holy  Ghost  into  his  heart,  as  into  a  temple,  with 
all  the  intense  emotion  and  searching  of  spirit  that 
follows  this  appeal,  is  ever  sounding  throughout  the 
Church.  It  is  a  call  to  resurrection,  necessary  not 
only  at  the  first  conversion  of  a  nation,  but  as  a  con- 
stant regenerating  power.  If  the  regular  ministry 
of  the  Church  fails  in  its  duty  to  make  this  appeal, 
then  an  irregular  agency  springs  up  to  do  it, — some- 
times, as  in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  an  order  of  monks 
or  preachers,  sometimes  in  a  more  sectarian  body. 
Such  agencies  are  indeed  very  uncertain  in  their 
work,  and  are  exposed  to  great  temptations.  The 
Benedictines,  after  several  centuries  of  wonderful 
success,  lost  their  missionary  ardour,  and  confined 
themselves    to    their    wide    domains    and    cloistered 


VIII.]  Work  of  Religious  Orders.  313 

studies.  The  Mendicant  orders  who  arose  to  do  their 
work,  after  a  period  of  extraordinary  brilliancy,  fell 
into  comparative  disrepute.  The  Dominicans,  with 
misguided  zeal,  threw  themselves  into  the  terrible 
fallacy  of  the  Inquisition,  the  "  compelle  intrare," 
towards  which  even  St.  Augustine  had  led  the  way  -* ; 
while  the  Franciscans,  having  brought  religion  back 
to  the  homes  of  the  people  -^,  became  all  too  soon  a 
proverb  for  greediness  and  superstition.  The  "Wal- 
denses,  on  the  other  hand,  were  forced  against  their 
will  into  schism,  and  into  a  sort  of  partnership  with 
heresy.  It  was  a  sense  of  this  failure  that  very 
largely  contributed  to  the  Eeformation,  a  sense  that 
no  Church  can  be  doing  its  work  unless  it  has  its 
hold  continually  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Since  the  Eeformation  the  Jesuits,  and  other 
preaching  and  teaching  orders  in  the  Church  of 
Eome, — the  Moravians  in  Germany,  the  sects,  and 
especially  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  in  England, 
— have  attempted  to  take  up  the  work  that  fell 
from  the  hands  of  the  monks  and  friars  of  earlier 
days.  It  is  easy  enough  to  point  out  the  grave  faults, 
and  the  one-sidedness  of  temper  of  these  very  dif- 
ferent   attempts.       13ut   they   are   manifestations   of 

"  St.  Augustine  at  first  had  opposed  the  compulsion  of  the  Do- 
natijts  by  the  civil  power,  but  he  afterwards  changed  his  opinion, 
as  he  tells  us  in  his  Retractations,  ii.  5.  He  gives  his  reasons  in 
two  of  his  Epidles,  93,  acl  Vincentium,  and  185,  ad  Bonifatium, — 
a  very  disastrous  misuse  of  his  great  power  of  argument,  the  sub- 
stance of  which  has  been  repeated  again  and  again  in  succeeding 
centuries.  We  must  not,  however,  forget  the  protests  of  St.  Ber- 
nard against  the  persecution  both  of  Jews  and  Waldenses. 

"  See  especially  the  late  Mr.  J.  S.  Brewer's  preface  to  the  Mo- 
numenta  Franciscana,  in  the  Master  of  the  Hulls'  Series. 


314  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

spiritual  life  which  deserve  deep  attention.  Some 
instruments  of  the  kind  the  Church  must  have  if 
it  is  to  be  truly  Catholic  ;  something  answering 
to  those  manifold  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
charismata,  the  possessors  of  which  in  the  early 
days  worked  side  by  side  with  the  regular  min- 
istry of  the  Church.  The  warning,  "Quench  not 
the  Spirit:  despise  not  prophesyings"  (1  Thess.  v. 
19,  20),  is  constantly  needed.  Thank  God,  we  in 
the  Church  of  England  are  becoming  daily  more 
alive  to  the  danger  of  this  neglect. 

II. 

The  Gift  of  Peace  as  satisfying  the  Wants  of  Man. 

We  have  been  speaking  hitherto  of  the  more  gene- 
ral and  comprehensive  attributes  of  the  Church  which 
reflect  the  fulness  of  the  Divine  nature.  We  now 
turn  naturally  to  the  second  part  of  our  subject, — 
its  specific  adaptation  to  human  wants.  What  are 
the  great  instruments  by  which  the  Peace  of  the 
Church  is  secured,  the  outward  forms  by  which  it 
fulfils  its  mission  to  the  world  ?  They  are  acknow- 
ledged all  but  universally  to  be  three,  namely  (in 
the  words  of  our  Ordinal)  the  Doctrine  and  Sacra- 
ments and  Discipline  of  Christ. 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  obvious  necessity  of  such  a 
triple  adaptation  to  our  nature.  Man  wants  peace 
for  his  intellect  and  reason,  and  finds  it  in  a  creed 
delivered  with  authority  as  revealed  Truth.  He 
wants  peace  for  his  heart  and  afi'ections,  and  finds 
it  in  union  with  the  divine  life  implanted  by  Bap- 
tism and  renewed  by  Holy  Communion'.     He  wants 


VIII.]    Symbolism  of  the  Ark  audits  Contents.       315 

peace  for  his  will,  and  finds  it  in  submission  to  the 
rule  and  discijDline  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  exercised 
by  the  Apostolic  ministry  in  His  name.  He  wants 
these  things,  not  only  in  idea  and  invisibly,  but 
through  a  visible  medium,  the  counterpart  of  Christ's 
life  on  earth.  He  wants  them  historically  and  per- 
manently enshrined  in  facts,  and  such  as  he  wants 
them  God  in  His  condescending  mercy  has  given 
them. 

An  evident  type  and  symbol  of  this  threefold  gift 
was  set  before  the  ancient  people  of  God  in  the  con- 
tents of  the  ark,  or  rather,  was  hidden  from  their 
eyes  behind  the  veil,  waiting  till  Christ  should  open 
the  way  to  their  meaning.  Like  all  the  symbolism 
of  the  ancient  Church  of  Israel,  the  ark,  with  its 
contents,  has  a  striking  relation  both  to  the  forms 
of  Heathenism  about  it,  and  to  the  Christianity  which 
was  to  succeed  it.  To  the  first  it  has  a  superficial 
outward  likeness  and  an  inward  contrast,  while  to 
the  second  it  stands  in  a  relation  of  transition  and 
prophecy.  The  two  tables  of  the  covenant  therein 
preserved,  with  the  pot  of  manna  and  Aaron's  rod 
that  budded,  were  at  once  direct  historical  memorials 
of  things  past,  and  pregnant  and  forcible  emblems 
of  what  was  to  come.  There  was  the  monument  of 
the  fiery  lawgiving  of  Sinai  in  the  tables  of  stone; 
there  was  the  pot  of  manna,  the  bread  from  heaven 
that  sustained  their  weary  desert  pilgrimage;  there 
was  the  marvellous  rod  that  blossomed  amongst  the 
dry  staves  of  the  other  tribes,  with  its  reminiscences 
of  the  gainsaying  of  Korah,  and  the  establishment 
of  the  authority  of  one  priestly  household.     AVhat 


316  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

a  world  of  history  and  prophecy  was  enclosed  in  that 
little  space !  How  solemn,  too,  and  forcible,  were 
these  plain  memorials,  compared  with  the  gross  and 
dubious  symbols  of  the  sacred  chests  of  the  Egyptian 
or  Greek  deities,  to  which  an  outsider  might  have 
compared  them  ^^.  Let  us,  for  the  sake  of  impress- 
ing the  contrast,  try  to  throw  ourselves  into  the 
position  of  a  heathen  who  wished  to  make  the  best 
of  his  religion,  a  Plutarch  or  a  Porphyry.  Setting 
aside  the  coarser  symbols,  which  play  such  a  hor- 
rible part  in  the  earth-bound  fancies  of  polytheism, 
what  was  the  best  that  we  could  have  learnt  from 
the  higher  emblems, — the  thyrsus,  the  pomegranate, 
the  ears  of  corn,  the  balls  of  wool,  and  the  rest? 
What  was  the  essence  of  this  religion  as  a  gift  of 
God  to  man  ?  We  see  Dionysus,  the  joyous  reveller, 
waving  his  wand  and  taking  possession  of  his  vota- 
ries, and  intoxicating  them  with  a  sense  of  the  beauty 
and  the  charm  of  nature.  As  we  look  at  the  trains 
of  graceful  figures,  with  their  light  and  easy  motion, 
upon  some  precious  vase  or  richly-carved  sarcopha- 
gus ;  as  we  read  the  wild  choruses  of  Euripides,  and 
the  sweet  and  stirring  poems  of  Catullus  or  Keats ; 
as  we  gaze  upon  the  moving  canvases  of  Titian  and 
Tintoret,  we  feel  what  an  attraction  there  is,  not 
merely  for  the  artistic  temperament,  in  this  Dio- 
nysiac  enthusiasm.  We  perceive  that  it  touches  that 
inborn  passion  for  wildness  and  freedom,  for  triumph- 
ing with  nature,  for  being  at  one  with  the  spirit  of 

^  On  the  contents  of  the  mystic  chests,  see  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria, Protrepticus,  2,  §§  21,  22  ;  and  cp.  DtiUinger,  Heide7it]mm, 
p.  168,  §  107. 


VIIL]     Contrast  with  Dionysiac  Enthusiasm.  317 

the  world,  both  physical  and  animal,  which  is  akin 
to  something  noble,  something  really  beautiful  in 
man.  Yet  look  at  it  a  little  closer,  a  little  more 
coldly, — what  was  it  really  in  its  effects  ?  We  see 
crowds  of  fanatics  leaving  their  homes,  women  de- 
serting their  husbands  and  children,  tearing  some 
poor  animal  limb  from  limb  to  make  a  cruel  sacra- 
ment, and  dancing  by  the  glare  of  torchlight  upon 
the  mountains  till  faintness  and  exhaustion  over- 
powered their  sinking  bodies.  The  thyrsus  is  thus 
a  sort  of  enchanter's  wand,  a  Circean  magic,  turning 
human  beings  into  an  artificial  state  of  savagery, 
scarcely  even  picturesque  in  its  reality,  and  any- 
thing but  a  rod  of  divine  discipline.  In  the  pome- 
granate, again,  with  its  many  seeds,  we  seem  to  see 
little  more  than  an  emblem  of  physical  fruitfulness, 
with  perhaps  a  faint  outlook  towards  the  hope  of 
a  future  life.  We  catch  some  more  distinct  intima- 
tions of  the  dignity  and  usefulness  of  labour  in  the 
ears  of  corn  and  the  balls  of  wool  that  Demeter 
taught  mankind  to  produce  in  the  field  and  by  the 
fireside,  and  this  is  certainly  the  best  side  of  the 
mysteries.  But  all  is  obscure  and  hazy,  where  it 
is  not  strange  and  dangerous.  In  these  rites  the 
idea  of  prophecy  and  inspiration,  of  discipline  and 
instruction,  is  travestied  by  bacchantic  frenzy;  sa- 
craments are  misrepresented  by  sensual  or  savage 
ordinances ;  and  a  law  of  moral  duty  is  only  dimly 
inferred  as  a  labouring  for  the  meat  that  perisheth, 
instead  of  being  clearly  written  on  the  stones  of 
Sinai. 

But  what  the  heathen  in  vain  felt  for,  what  the 


318  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

Jew  had  only  in  part,  or  in  type  and  prophecy,  that 
Christ  has  given  us,  opening  the  way  within  the 
veil,  and  disclosing  the  fulness  of  His  treasures. 

(1.)  It  needs  but  few  words  to  point  out  the  great 
value  of  the  Christian  ordinances  as  instruments  of 
Peace.  As  regards  the  first  of  the  three,  namely, 
Doctrine,  we  have  already  spoken  in  former  Lectures 
of  the  marvellous  power  of  the  Bible  over  the  human 
heart  2^,  of  the  repose  and  strength  that  follows  an 
acceptance  of  Christ's  authority  ^^,  and  of  the  sustain- 
ing, satisfying  power  of  the  Creed  ^^,  and  it  is  un- 
necessary to  repeat  it  here.  We  have  also  remarked 
upon  the  striking  agreement  as  to  the  great  mysteries 
of  the  Creed,  which  unites  the  divided  portions  of 
Christendom.  The  power  of  Christian  doctrine  is 
an  eloquent  fact  which  no  one  can  gainsay,  though 
only  those  who  have  tasted  the  peace  and  joy  of  be- 
lieving can  really  understand  its  fulness. 

It  has,  however,  been  sometimes  said  or  implied 
that  the  restful,  believing  temper  of  the  Church  is 
less  sympathetic,  less  practically  useful  than  the 
sceptical  and  restless  spirit.  All  advance  in  philo- 
sophy, we  are  reminded,  begins  in  doubt,  and  science 
is  constantly  revising  its  hypotheses,  and  ever  on  the 
watch  for  indications  of  omitted  phenomena,  which 
may  help  it  to  define  more  accurately  what  it  only 
knows  in  part.  But  even  those  who  are  caught  by 
the  attractive  side  of  scepticism,  are  obliged  to  make 
a  stand  somewhere;  as,  for  instance,  those  in  the 
very  lowest  stage  of  belief  are  forced  to  assume  that 

"  Lect.  iv.  p.  121.  28  Lect.  iv.  pp.  130  foH. 

2«  Lect.  vi.  p.  187  foil. 


VIII.]  The  Creed  and  Scepticism.  319 

knowledge  is  possible,  and  that  there  will  be  some 
continuity  between  the  future  and  the  past.     They 
are  obliged,  that  is  to  say,  to  admit  that  the  theo- 
logical virtues  of  hope  and  faith  are  practically  neces- 
sary to  knowledge ;  and  most  of  them  will  not  wish 
to  exclude  love,  though  they  may  differ  from  us  as 
to  its  object.     Many  of  them  also  will  be  ready  to 
agree  with  Bacon   "  that  there  is  hardly  any  other 
approach  to  the  kingdom  of  man,  which  is  founded 
on  the  sciences,  than  that  which  leads  to  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven,  into  which  entrance  is  not  granted 
except  under  the  likeness  of  a  little  child"   {Nov. 
Org.^    aph.    68).      Science,    in    her    serious    moods, 
agrees   with    faith    in   thinking   that   to   be    "  ever 
learning    and   never    coming   to   the   knowledge   of 
the  truth  "  is  misery  and  failure.     "We,  on  our  part, 
are  also  perfectly  ready  to  admit  that   an  enquir- 
ing  temper,    which    you    may,    if  you   choose,    de- 
scribe as  sceptical,  is  useful  up  to  a  certain  point. 
If  it  is  necessary  to  science,  it  is  necessary  also  to 
theology,  to  remind  us  of  the  fragmentariness  of  our 
knowledge,   and   to   correct   the   tendency   to  carry 
single  principles  to  extremes.      It  requires,   for  in- 
stance, a  sort  of  healthy  scepticism  to  perceive  the 
danger  of  such  developments  as  Papal  Infallibility 
or  Bibliolatry,  as  Calvinism  or  modern  Universalism. 
The  only  difference,  then,  between  us  and  those  who 
are  not  Christians,   if  we  view  the  matter  entirely 
from  the  intellectual   side,  is  as  to  range  and  oc- 
cupations   of   faith    and    doubt    respectively.      Wo 
say  that  their   faith   is   not   broad  enough  to   give 
peace,   and   is   exposed  to  the   great   temptation  of 


320  The  Peace  of  tlie  Church.  [Lect. 

indolence.  If  a  man  believes  that  knowledge  is 
possible  at  all,  he  cannot,  without  stunting  and 
maiming  his  intelligence,  leave  out  of  his  view  the 
obvious  facts  that  the  world  cannot  be  self-created,  that 
evolution  is  a  process,  which  is  described,  not  a  cause 
of  anything,  and  that  human  free-will  has  a  potential 
energy  outside  all  the  limits  of  experience  and  obser- 
vation. When  these  primary  truths  have  been  taken 
into  account,  let  him  consider  further  the  witness  of 
the  conscience  with  regard  to  sin,  the  unique  position 
of  Israel  in  history,  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
witness  to  the  Eesurrection,  the  existence  of  the 
Church,  and  all  the  other  facts  which  lie  so  close 
together  in  this  connection.  We  may  then  ask, 
which  really  gives  truer  peace  to  the  intellect,  a  doc- 
trine that  harmonises  all  these  very  important  facts, 
or  a  scepticism  to  which  they  are  so  many  knots  and 
insoluble  problems — nay,  it  may  be,  even  a  list  of 
subjects,  the  discussion  of  which  must  be  tabooed  and 
evaded  ?  We  ask,  for  instance,  again  and  again, 
"What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  and  sceptics  again 
and  again  shirk  a  full  enquiry.  They  have  no 
theory  that  will  the  least  bear  criticism  in  detail  ^° ; 
and  they  take  refuge  in  vague  generalities  about 
possible  processes  of  self-deception  and  illusion,  loose 
probabilities  of  weakness  or  even  wickedness  and 
imposture,  in  the  Evangelists  and  other  writers  of 
the  New  Testament.  What  would  be  said  of  such 
conduct  as  this  in  any  other  region  of  thought  ?  Is 
not  wilful  neglect  of  Biblical  and  theological  study 
rightly  described  as  immoral,  when  we  think  of  the 
20  See  additional  note,  page  33Q. 


YIII.]  Practical  Poiver  of  the  Creed.  321 

great  issues  which  underlie  acceptance  or  rejection 
of  the  Creed? 

It  is  true  that  the  Church  is  content  to  leave  much 
unexplained,  and  so  far  (as  we  have  said)  has  a  seem- 
ing point  of  contact  with  scepticism.  But  then  it  has 
a  rationale  of  this  contentment  to  offer.  It  is  a  scep- 
ticism of  faith,  not  of  doubt ;  or  rather,  it  is  an  ac- 
ceptance of  a  position  which  is  itself  part  of  the 
Creed,  namely,  that  God  is  our  teacher,  and  we 
always  learners  from  Him.  We  believe  that  "when 
that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  then  that  which  is 
in  part  shall  be  done  away"  (1  Cor.  xiii.  10).  This 
position  should  certainly  make  us^  sympathetic  with 
all  those  doubters  who  have  so  far  advanced  as 
heartily  to  accept  this  principle  that  they  are  learners 
from  God.  They  are  not,  indeed,  good  Christians, 
but  they  are  inchoate  Christians.  They  begin  to 
feel  with  us  "the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all 
understanding,"  a  weight  taken  off  the  spirit,  a  hope- 
fulness as  to  the  triumph  of  good  over  evil,  which 
will  lead  them  onwards  and  upwards.  But  it  is 
only  a  full  possession  of  the  Creed  enabling  believers 
to  feel  that  they  are  workers  together  with  God, 
which  gives  them  an  absolutely  untiring  energy 
in  work,  and  a  readiness  to  take  up  any  labour, 
however  humble,  because  they  know  that  Ho  will 
mould  everything  into  His  plan,  and  that  the  task 
of  the  least  is  essential  to  the  glory  of  the  greatest. 

There  is  indeed,  we  admit,  such  a  thing  as  a  selfish, 
lazy  faith,  and  the  comfort  of  which  it  boasts  is  no  real 
example  of  the  peace  given  by  Christian  doctrine. 
It  is  true  also  that  there  are  some  religious-minded 


322  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

men,  who  look  with  earnestness  for  peace,  and  yet 
never  seem  to  reach  it  in  this  world.  Such  ex- 
ceptions of  both  kinds  are  a  trial  and  an  enigma, 
which,  we  doubt  not,  will  be  solved  and  set  straight 
in  another  state  of  being.  But,  for  the  present,  we 
must  look,  here  as  elsewhere,  at  the  general  result. 
Acceptance  of  Christian  doctrine  does  give  a  reason- 
able and  harmonious  peace  to  the  mind ;  it  enables  us 
to  comprehend,  as  far  as  our  imperfect  thought  can, 
all  classes  of  facts,  it  sets  us  free  from  a  perpetual 
irritation  about  first  principles,  which  often  impedes 
decisive  action  at  critical  moments,  and  it  leaves 
quite  a  sufficient  sense  of  incompleteness  in  our 
knowledge  to  give  a  healthy  activity  and  humility 
to  the  intellect. 

(2.)  The  peace  given  by  the  Sacraments  of  Christ 
is  equally  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  heart  and  affec- 
tions. Almost  all  nations  testify  to  the  instincts 
which  underlie  the  two  universal  Sacraments  of  Bap- 
tism and  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  there  are  not  a  few 
widespread  analogies  to  the  other  Sacramental  rites 
of  the  Church  ^\  Forms  of  initiation,  purification,  and 
dedication,  often  by  water  ^-,  festivals  of  communion 

^^  The  inauguration  of  Numa,  in  -which  the  augur  laid  his  right 
hand  upon  the  king's  head  and  prayed  to  Jupiter  for  a  sign,  is 
described  at  length  by  Livy,  i.  18,  and  Plutarch,  Numa,  7,  p.  64  b. 
Mommsen  doubts  whether  this  ceremony  was  really  used  at  the 
accession  of  a  king,  but  as  it  appears  to  me  without  sufficient  rea- 
son, in  his  B'dmisches  Staatsrecht,  vol.  ii.  p.  8.  Inauguration  was 
in  use  without  doubt  for  the  rex  sacrificulus  and  the  flamines :  see 
Labeo  in  Gellius,  Nodes  Atticce,  xv.  27,  1,  and  Livy,  xxvii.  8  ; 
xl.  42. 

^2  E.  B.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii.  pp.  430  foil.,  cites  numerous 
cases  of  the  lustration  of  children,  often  in  connection  with  the 


VIII.]  Heathen  Sacramental  Bites.  323 

with  the  deity,  by  partaking  of  a  sacrifice  just  of- 
fered ^^j  are  known  wherever  religion  has  attained  or 
retained  any  hold  over  mankind.  They  have  given 
a  constant  sense  of  brotherhood  and  companionship, 
of  dependence  on  the  Divine  love,  often  strong  enough 
to  raise  men  above  the  divisions  of  national  life. 
Thus  all  distinctions  of  caste  are  abolished  amongst 
those  who  meet  in  the  temple  of  Jagannath  in  Orissa, 
and  the  sacred  food  of  his  offerings  passes  without 
reserve  from  hand  to  hand,  even  among  men  of  hostile 
nationalities  and  differing  faiths  ^^ 

To  many  of  the  heathen  every  meal  is  in  some  sort 
a  sacrament,  since  a  small  portion  or  libation  is  of- 
fered to  the  deity  generally  before  men  set  their 
hands  to  it^^  Amongst  the  Eomans,  a  silence  was 
observed  between  the  two  courses  of  their  principal 
meal,  whilst  this  little  sacrifice  was  being  performed, 

ceremony  of  naming,  generally  at  some  fixed  time  after  birth.  Cp. 
also  above,  p.  161,  and  note  44. 

On  the  "  dies  lustricus  "  of  the  Romans  see  J.  Marquardt,  PrivaU 
lehen  der  R'omer,  pp.  81  foil.  (Leipzig,  1879). 

33  Cp.  Tylor,  1.  c.  pp.  394—396;  Bollinger,  Beidenthm,  pp.  209 
foil.,  373,  535  foil.,  &c.  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  x.  16—21,  grounds  his 
prohibition  of  eating  things  offered  to  idols  on  the  sense  of  commu- 
nion with  the  supposed  deity.  It  is  striking  thai:  sin-offerings 
{hostiic  piaculares)  among  the  Romans,  were  only  eaten  by  the 
priests,  just  as  amongst  the  Jews.  See  J.  Marquardt,  Rom.  Staats- 
verwaltung,  iii.  pp.  179  foil.,  and  Leviticus  vi.  26,  29,  x.  17. 

"  The  sacred  food  is  called  Mahaprasad  {lit.  great  favour).  Sec 
"W.  W.  Hunter's  Orissa,  vol.  i.  pp.  85  foil.  At  present,  some  low 
castes  are  excluded,  contrary  to  the  original  institution.  Ihid.  pp. 
135  foil.  The  worship  of  Jagannath  is  part  of  the  Vaish«ava  re- 
forms already  referred  to,  p.  97,  note  54.  Mr.  Hunter's  two  chap- 
ters on  this  subject  should  be  read  by  every  one.  The  misery 
endured  by  the  crowds  of  pilgrims  is  described  with  great  force. 

35  Tylor,  1.  c,  &c. 

T  2 


•324  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

to  do  honour  to  the  presence  of  the  Gods  ^^ ;  and 
surely  Christians  cannot  suffer  themselves  to  be  be- 
hind the  heathen  in  thus  consecrating  the  gift  by- 
remembrance  of  the  giver  ^^. 

There  is  a  real  beauty,  nay,  sometimes  a  potent 
charm,  about  some  of  these  rites,  though  too  often 
they  have  the  hideous  spectres  of  lust  or  cruelty 
lurking  in  their  shadow;  and  even  when  they  are 
purest,  they  wholly  lack  the  force  of  the  Christian 
sacraments.  Heathen  sacraments  are  at  best  arbi- 
trary and  fanciful ;  they  are  the  result  of  a  vague 
groping  after  God  in  myth  and  symbol.  But  the  two 
great  Christian  Sacraments  rest  on  the  express  com- 
mands of  Christ,  and  are  intimately  connected  with 
the  historical  facts  of  His  manifestation  to  men,  and 
a  backward  reference  to  much  in  the  religious  life  of 
Israel.  They  have  often  and  rightly  been  called  an 
"  extension  of  the  Incarnation  ^^,"  that  is  to  say,  they 
are  natural  means  by  which  the  power  of  Christ  is 
present  to  us,  just  as  His  visible  body  was  the  in- 
strument of  divine  grace  to  the  first  disciples.     As 

^^  See  the  quotations  in  J.  Marquardt,  R'6m.  Staatsvencaltung, 
iii.  p.  124,  esp.  Servius  ad  JEneid.  i.  730  : — "  Apud  Romanos  etiam 
cena  edita  sublatisque  mensis  primis  silentium  fieri  solebat,  quoad 
ea  quae  de  cena  libata  fuerant,  ad  focum  ferrentur  et  igni  darentur, 
ac  puer  deos  propitios  nunciasset,  ut  diis  honor  haberetur  tacendo. 
Quae  res  cum  intercessit  inter  cenandum  Groeci  quoque  Bewv  rrapov- 
aiav  dicunt." 

^  The  Christians  of  Papinenipalli  in  Southern  India  have  the 
beautiful  custom  of  putting  a  small  portion  of  maize  into  the  offer- 
tory pot,  suspended  from  the  roof,  every  time  that  any  is  ground 
for  cooking.     The  contents  are  presented  every  Sunday. 

^*  Bp.  Jeremy  Taylor's  TForthy  Communica7it,\.  2,  an  idea  clearly 
in  the  mind  of  Hooker,  Eccl.  Polity,  v.  ch.  51  foil.  Cp.  E.  I. 
"Wilberforce,  On  the  Incarnation,  ch.  xiii. 


VIII.]        Practical  Value  of  the  Sacraments.  325 

He  has  united  the  Finite  to  the  Infinite  by  Ilis  birth 
in  human  flesh,  so  in  these  simple  physical  elements 
He  has  taken  up  and  consecrated  nature  and  daily 
life,  and  has  given  us  a  foretaste  of  the  divinised 
realm  of  nature,  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
■wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  which  are  in  God's 
good  time  to  rise  from  the  ashes  of  the  old.  Those 
who  accept  Christ  as  the  Mediator,  will  also  thank- 
fully accept  the  rites  which  He  has  instituted  as 
channels  of  His  mediatorial  grace. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  a  full  discussion  of  the 
practical  blessings  of  the  Sacraments.  Their  value 
as  a  bond  of  union  between  man  and  man  is  obvious, 
so  obvious,  that  others  besides  Christians  are  drawn 
to  adopt  something  of  the  kind.  We  have  lately 
seen  in  France  a  miserable  parody  of  Baptism  in  an 
assembly  of  democratic  atheists ;  and  the  Theists  of 
the  Brahma-Samaj  have  now  instituted  a  communion 
service,  the  elements  of  which  are  rice  and  water. 

That  the  Christian  Sacraments  have,  over  and 
above  this,  an  educational  value  peculiar  to  them, 
is  also  acknowledged  by  many  who  are  slow  to  ac- 
cept the  creeds  ^^.  The  careful  preparation  which 
they  exact,  or  ought  to  exact ;  the  solemnity  of  their 
celebration ;  the  awe  and  hush  that  falls  upon  the 
worshippers ;  the  tenderness  of  the  emotion  which 
they  excite,  even  among  those  who  take  the  low 
views  of  a  mere  charitable  expectation  in  Baptism, 
or  a  historical  commemoration  of  the  death  of  Christ 
in  the  Eucharist, — all  this  gives  comfort  to  the  soul 
of  many  wearied  with  intellectual  strife,  or  incapable 

39  Cp.  Hooker,  EccL  Polify,  v.  57.  2. 


326  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

of  understanding  controversy.  But  deeper  far  is  the 
peace  of  those  who  can  accept  the  language  of  the 
Prayer-Book,  thanking  God  from  their  hearts  that 
the  newly-baptized  ''is  regenerate  and  grafted  into 
the  body  of  Christ's  Church;"  and  that  in  Holy 
Communion  He  doth  "assure  us"  of  His  "favour 
and  goodness  towards  us,  and  that  we  are  very  mem- 
bers incorporate  in  the  mystical  body  "  of  His  Son. 
We  feel  that  necessary  as  faith  and  the  preparation 
of  the  heart  certainly  is,  delightful  as  is  the  com- 
munion of  prayer  and  the  response  of  the  Spirit's 
inward  motion,  yet  in  the  Sacraments  there  is  an 
outward  gift,  an  act,  a  motion  of  the  divine  love  to- 
wards us,  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  have  in- 
vented or  controlled,  which  is  ready  to  lay  hold 
of  us  and  transform  us,  if  we  will  only  let  it  do  its 
holy  work.  We  understand  the  feeling  with  which 
St.  Cyprian  wrote,  directly  after  his  baptism,  de- 
scribing his  former  and  his  present  state.  He  tells 
us  first,  you  may  remember,  how  he  thought  the  doc- 
trine of  new  birth  "  a  hard  saying,"  how  impossible 
it  seemed  to  him  to  get  rid  of  the  obstinate  defile- 
ment of  nature  and  the  ingrained  habits  of  vice  :  and 
then  he  continues  as  follows  : — 

"  Such  were  my  frequent  musings :  for  whereas  I  was 
encumbered  with  the  many  sins  of  my  past  life,  which  it. 
seemed  impossible  to  be  rid  of,  so  I  had  used  myself  to  give 
way  to  my  clinging  infirmities,  and,  from  despair  of  better 
things,  to  humour  the  evils  of  my  heart,  as  slaves  born 
in  my  bouse,  and  my  proper  offspring.  But  after  that 
life-giving  water  succoured  me,  washing  away  the  stain  of 
former  years,  and  pouring  into  my  cleansed  and  hallowed 
breast  the  light  which  comes  from  Heaven,  after  that  I 


VIII.]  Baptism  and  Hohj  Communion.  327 

drank  in  the  Heavenly  Spirit,  and  was  created  into  a  new- 
man  by  a  second  birth, — then  marvellously  what  before  was 
doubtful  became  plain  to  me, — what  was  hidden  was  re- 
vealed,— what  was  dark  began  to  shine, — what  was  before 
difficult,  now  had  a  way  and  means, — what  bad  seemed  im- 
possible now  could  be  achieved, — what  was  in  me  of  the 
guilty  flesh,  now  confessed  that  it  was  earthy, — what  was 
quickened  in  me  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  now  had  a  growth 
according  to  God^*^." 

Not  less  is  the  peace  of  mind  which  follows  a  de- 
vout reception  of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Through  it 
we  join  the  society  of  the  holy  angels,  and  enter  into 
the  repose  of  the  blessed  dead.  All  good  influences  of 
the  communion  of  saints  surround  us.  The  offertory- 
united  to  the  oblation  of  the  elements  is  a  symbol  of 
the  dedication  of  our  natural  life  and  substance  to 
God,  and  to  the  purposes  of  His  kingdom  of  Peace  and 
charity  towards  all  men.  The  consecration,  shewing 
forth  the  Lord's  death,  and  pleading  it  as  a  sacrifice 
for  sin,  implies  a  parallel  oblation  of  the  worshipper 
as  a  member  of  the  crucified  body  of  Christ,  ready- 
in  all  thinors  to  submit  his  will  to  his  Father's  will. 
The  act  of  communion  crowns  these  acts  by  an  as- 
surance given  to  us  that  the  strength  and  solidity 
of  the  Eedeemer's  glorified  life,  the  'purifying  and 
vivifying  power  of  His  love,  is  ready  to  pass  into 
ours  if  we  will  but  receive  it.  Christ  is  present 
to  us,  with  us,  and  in  us,  as  really  as  when  He 
walked  the  earth  in  human  flesh.  In  touching  Him 
we  find  health,  and  rest,  and  joy.  Men  may  not 
understand  these  feelings,  or  be  able  to  enter  into 

*°  St.  Cyprian  ad  Donatum,  3  {Library  of  the  Fathers,  vol.  iii. 
p.  3). 


328  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

this  experience,  but  they  cannot  doubt  their  reality 
or  their  energy. 

There  is  a  like  power  also  in  the  other  sacramental 
ordinances  through  which  the  Church  acts  as  a  chan- 
nel of  divine  grace.  The  gift  of  individual  strength 
in  Confirmation,  and  of  authority  in  Ordination,  are 
manifest  aids  to  those  who  receive  them''^  How 
much  of  our  social  purity  and  happiness  is  due  to 
the  grace  to  keep  the  marriage  vow  given  by  God 
to  those  who  ask  the  Church's  blessing,  is  evident 
by  the  laxity  which  follows  its  rejection,  l^or  can 
the  misuse  of  the  grace  of  absolution,  and  the  degra- 
dation of  the  ancient  system  of  penance,  excuse  us 
in  shutting  our  eyes  to  the  crying  want  of  the  human 
heart,  especially  in  its  weakness  and  disease,  which 
is  met  by  an  external  assurance  of  God's  pardon  for 
sin  confessed  *^ 

(3.)  The  acceptance  of  the  discipline  of  Christ  by 
the  will  of  man  completes  the  work  of  Peace,  which 
is  begun  in  his  nature  by  the  tranquillizing  effect  of 
the  Creed  upon  the  intelligence,  and  carried  on  by 
the  influence  of  sacramental  grace  upon  the  heart. 
It  is  the  exercise  of  discipline  which  specially  gives 
the  Church  the  name  and  title  Apostolic^  inasmuch  as 
our  Lord  committed  the  government  of  His  Church 

^'  Cp.  Dr.  Liddon's  Sermon  at  Oxford,  Dec.  22,  1867,  The  Moral 
Value  of  a  Mission  from  Christ  (Rivingtons,  1868). 

^^  There  is  an  interesting  sermon,  on  Absolution  in  F.  W.  Eobert- 
son's  Sermons,  Third  Series,  pp.  61 — 76,  ed.  1878,  which  may- 
help  some  persons  to  understand  this  truth  who  are  inclined  to 
shrink  from  it.  Cp.  F.  D.  Maurice,  Kingdom  of  Christ  (ed.  2, 
vol.  2,  pp.191  foil.,  Lond.,  1842),  section  headed,  "Objections 
to  an  Absolving  power  in  Ministers." 


VIII.]    Discipline.     Training  of  the  Apostles,         329 

to  the  Apostles.  Without,  therefore,  going  into  de- 
tails of  law  and  custom,  it  is  necessary  to  say  a  few 
words  on  that  ministry,  which  is  confessedly  the 
chief  instrument  and  organ  of  Discipline.  So  clear 
is  it  that  our  Lord  desired  to  establish  a  body  of 
officers  in  His  Church,  that  (as  has  been  well  said), 
*'  if  we  called  the  Four  Gospels  '  the  Institution  of 
a  Christian  Ministry,'  we  might  not  go  very  far 
wrong,  or  lose  sight  of  many  of  their  essential  quali- 
ties^^." The  careful  and  even  elaborate  education 
given  step  by  step  to  the  Apostles — as  a  body  in 
the  Galilean  ministry  recorded  by  the  first  three 
Evangelists,  as  individuals  in  that  which  is  the  spe- 
cial subject  of  St.  John — is  inexplicable,  unless  our 
Lord  was  training  them  for  an  office,  that  is,  for 
a  permanent  function  in  His  Church.  For  Christ 
speaks  of  His  Church  over  and  over  again  as  a  king- 
dom, working  in  the  world  though  not  of  the  world, 
and  a  kingdom  implies  an  abiding  constitution.  Order 
is  everywhere  His  delight,  as  we  see,  not  only  in  His 
words  in  support  of  the  Jewish  functionaries,  the 
priests  and  scribes  ''*,  but  also  in  the  pleasure  which 
He  shewed  when  the  principle  was  recognized  by 
others,  as  by  the  Centurion  of  Capernaum  "^^  To  have 
spoken,  therefore,  and  acted  as  He  did  would  have 
been  indeed  misleading,  unless,  as  all  Christendom 


^^  F.  D.  Maurice,  Tlie  Kingdom  of  Christ,  vol.  ii.  p.  148,  ed.  2. 
The  whole  section  is  striking  and  effective. 

*^  "Go  shew  yourselves  unto  the  priests,"  Luhe  xvii.  14;  "The 
Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  scat,"  &c.,  Matt,  xxiii.  2, 
and  elsewhere. 

*'  Matt.  viii.  10 ;  Luke  vii.  9. 


330  The  Peace  of  tlie  Church.  [Lect. 

for  many  centuries  agreed,  He  was  making  pro- 
vision for  a  government  that  was  to  last  for  all 
time. 

It  was  clearly  our  Blessed  Lord's  '^plan"  (if  we 
may  use  the  term  with  reverence)  to  employ  the 
Apostles  rather  than  Himself  as  visible  instruments 
of  salvation.  He  might  have  made  a  multitude  of 
converts  all  on  the  same  level  of  equal  relations  to 
Himself,  but  He  did  not  do  so.  His  method  was 
to  lay  down  general  principles  of  doctrine  and  mo- 
rality, and  to  commit  the  application  of  them  to  the 
Apostolate,  not  to  impose  a  minutely-defined  and 
all-sufficient  rule  of  life  like  Mahomet,  or  to  create 
a  crowd  of  individual  saints  like  Gotama.  He  re- 
fuses to  be  made  a  king  by  the  crowd,  that  is  to  say, 
He  discards  all  ambition  to  make  His  name  widely 
known  by  His  visible  presence,  and  resigns  the  work 
of  proclaiming  it  to  a  limited  number  of  persons — the 
Twelve  and  the  Seventy — trained  by  lengthened  con- 
tact with  Himself,  from  which  other  men  are  in  great 
measure  debarred.  To  the  Apostles  especially  He 
gave  the  assurance,  "As  My  Father  hath  sent  Me, 
even  so  send  I  you,"  and  the  promise  as  to  remis- 
sion and  retention  of  sins  that  follows  (John  xx. 
21  foll.)^*^;  and  He  speaks  of  their  ministry  as  last- 
ing till  His  second  coming :  "  "Who  then  is  that  faith- 
ful and  wise  steward,  whom  his  Lord  shall  make 
ruler  over  his  household,  to  give  them  their  portion 
of  meat  in  due  season  ?  Blessed  is  that  servant 
whom  his  lord  when  he  cometh  shall  find  so  doing  " 

*^  This  assurance  is  implied  in  many  places,  e.g.  Matt.  x.  40; 
Luke  X.  16;  John  xiii.  20  ;  xvii.  18. 


YIII.]  The  Apostolic  Ministry.  331 

(Luke  xii.  42,  43).  I  need  not  remind  you  how 
these  words  are  re-echoed  by  St.  Paul,  who  describes 
the  -ministry  as  a  special  gift  of  Pentecost  to  edu- 
cate the  body  of  Christ,  "  till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son 
of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ  *^." 

There  were  dangers  no  doubt  in  this  unique  me- 
thod, and  those  clearly  foreseen  by  our  Divine  Mas- 
ter; dangers  lest  His  ministers  should  strive  to 
become  lords  over  God's  heritage,  or  that  the  truths 
they  preached  might  be  set  at  naught  with  the 
obscurity  of  their  persons.  But  the  method  has 
surely  been  justified  by  the  event.  Christ's  per- 
petual presence  with  His  Church  has  been  brought 
home  to  age  after  age  by  the  Apostolic  ministry 
with  a  force  that  no  diffused  impression  committed 
to  a  multitude  could  ever  have  attained.  Our 
Lord  desires  us  to  think  of  Him  as  an  ever-pre- 
sent ruler,  absent  temporarily  from  sight,  but  with 
us  invisibly,  and  at  any  moment  about  to  return 
again  in  visible  majesty.  Is  not  the  sense  of  this 
kept  up  most  powerfully  by  the  ministry,  which 
is  taught  and  teaches  that  it  holds  office  directly 
from  His  hands?  Had  the  ministry  been  left  to 
grow  up  as  a  human  afterthought,  developed  merely 
by  social  necessities,  and  receiving  its  commission 
from  below,  it  is  probable  that  Christ's  perpetual 
presence  in  His  Church  would  soon  have  been  dis- 
paraged or  denied.  The  Sacraments  might  have 
remained  as  outward  signs,  but  they  would  have 
^'  Mi)lm.  iv.  11  foU. 


332  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

surely  been  reduced,  as  the  sects  too  much  tend  to 
reduce  them,  to  tesserce  of  mutual  fellowship  between 
man  and  man. 

Christianity  might  have  become  a  powerful  re- 
ligious society  of  either  of  the  three  types  mentioned 
in  our  last  lecture,  but  it  would  hardly  have  been 
.  the  kingdom  of  the  living  Christ.  At  best  it  would 
have  been  dependent  for  its  sense  of  His  presence 
upon  the  uncertain  activity  of  the  inward  motions 
of  the  Spirit,  like  those  on  which  the  Society  of 
Friends  has  relied,  or  upon  sudden  outbursts  of  the 
charismata.  We  have  already  observed  how  untrust- 
worthy these  outbursts  are,  and  to  what  dangers  they 
are  exposed  (p.  311),  though  controlled,  as  they  have 
been,  directly  and  indirectly,  by  the  regular  ministry. 
Even  in  the  last  generation  we  have  seen  a  bold  at- 
tempt to  revive  a  separate  and  temporary  Apostolate, 
in  a  society  closely  similar  to  that  of  the  Montanists 
of  earlier  days,  and  we  have  also  seen  the  institution 
pass  away,  and  leave  the  world  very  nearly  where 
it  was  before. 

Let  those,  then,  who  are  inclined  to  think  lightly 
of  Apostolical  succession,  and  who  misconceive  the 
ministry  as  interfering  with  the  priesthood  of  Christ, 
consider  rather  how  little  they  would  have  known 
of  that  priesthood  as  a  present  reality,  without  the 
representation  of  it  which  is  constantly  before  their 
eyes  in  those  ministers  who  have  a  true  sense  of 
their  mission. 

There  is  a  false  sacerdotalism,  but  there  is  also 
a  true  one^^  The  false  gives  those  who  imbibe  it 
^«  Cp.  F.  D.  Maurice,  l.c.j  pp.  135— 13§. 


VIII.]  Representation  of  Christ.  333 

an  overbearing  sense  of  their  own  importance,  an 
idea,  that,  like  the  Brahmans  of  India,  they  are  to 
lord  it  over  their  brethren  in  spiritual  and  often  in 
secular  things.  The  true  sacerdotalism  claims  the 
right  to  be  in  all  things  like  unto  Christ,  who  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  miuister,  and  to 
give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.  The  false  theory 
again  strives  to  keep  the  conscience  of  others  in 
bondage,  to  make  them  slaves  or  weaklings,  daring 
not  to  stir  a  finger  except  under  direction  of  the 
priest:  the  true  realizes  that  almost  its  first  duty 
is  to  absolve,  that  is,  to  free  the  conscience,  to  put 
forward  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  to  give  a  sense 
of  joy  and  liberty  to  the  soul,  a  joy  as  in  the  presence 
of  the  Eedeemer  of  all  men. 

The  office  of  the  ministry,  as  our  Lord  designed 
it,  may  then  be  summed  up  in  one  word  as  bringing 
home  to  man  the  presence  of  Christ.  It  would  take 
too  long  to  exhibit  this  in  detail ;  but  consider  for 
a  moment  the  action  of  the  Episcopate  in  binding 
men  together  with  a  sense  of  unity,  as  all  subjects 
of  Christ  our  king.  If  it  were  only  an  instrument 
linking  province  to  province  and  country  to  country, 
it  would  be  simply  indispensable  as  an  organ  of 
Christian  feeling. 

To  use  the  words  of  a  writer  already  quoted  : — 

"  The  overseers  or  Bishops  of  the  Christian  Church  have 
felt  themselves  to  be  emphatically  the  bonds  of  communica- 
tion between  different  parts  of  the  earth.  The  jurisdiction 
of  each  has  been  confined  within  a  certain  district ;  but  by 
the  very  nature  of  their  office  they  have  held  fellowship,  and 


334  The  Peace  of  the  Church.  [Lect. 

been  obliged  to  bold  fellowsbip,  witb  tbose  wbo  lived  in 
otber  districts,  wbo  spoke  difiFerent  languages,  wbo  were 
bound  together  by  different  notions  or  customs  "." 

Think  of  it  again  as  a  careful  steward  and  dis- 
penser of  doctrine,  and  an  independent  witness  to 
morality;  as  a  mouthpiece  of  the  Church  in  work- 
ing upon  public  opinion ;  as  a  guarantee  for  the 
constant  and  reverent  performance  of  the  services 
of  public  prayer  and  praise  and  the  due  administra- 
tion of  the  Sacraments.  Without  the  Apostolic  mi- 
nistry, doctrine  is  apt  to  become  a  matter  of  private 
interpretation,  to  bend  to  the  heretical  bias  of  the 
moment,  and  to  cease  to  be  proclaimed  in  its  ful- 
ness ;  and  morality  tends  all  too  surely  to  be  reduced 
to  the  level  of  social  custom^''.  Ministers  who  re- 
ceive their  commission  only  from  the  people  are  no- 
toriously under  a  temptation  not  to  teach  or  to  con- 
demn, except  in  agreement  with  the  popular  voice. 
They  are  tempted  to  shrink  from  boldly  represent- 
ing Christ  either  to  their  flocks  or  to  the  civil  rulers : 
and  as  to  the  gathering  together  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  public  worship,  it  is  certain  that  where  the  com- 
mission from  Him  is  disregarded,  there  anything  like 

*3  F.  D.  Maurice,  I.e.,  p.  138. 

*"  The  extraordinary  prevalence  of  divorce  in  the  puritan  stales 
of  New  England  is  a  terrible  proof  of  this  danger.  See  the  Chirch 
Quarterly  Review  for  April,  1881,  on  Christian  Marriage,  vol.  12, 
pp.  20  foil.  Deducting  Roman  Catholics, — who,  to  their  honour, 
do  not  contribute  to  these  statistics, — the  ratio  of  divorces  to  mar- 
riages is  said  by  Dr.  Allen  to  stand  thus: — "In  Massachusetts, 
I  to  15  ;  in  Ehode  Island,  1  to  9  ;  in  Connecticut,  1  to  8 ;  in  Ver- 
mont, 1  to  13."  {North  American  Review,  June,  1880,  p.  557.) 


YIII.]  Conclusion.  335 

frequency  of  public  prayer  and  Holy  Communion  is 
also  generally  dropped  ^^ 

Such,  then,  are  the  outward  means  by  which  our 
Lord  has  deigned  to  apply  His  kingdom  of  Peace  to 
our  crying  human  wants.  With  a  statement  of  these 
means,  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  of  our  long 
argument.  I  have  striven  to  shew  to  those  who  seek 
to  find  rest  in  religion  that  there  is  one  and  one  only, 
as  far  as  we  know,  that  fulfils  the  conditions  natu- 
rally demanded  by  the  reason,  and  that  that  religion  is 
the  Christian.  I  have  attempted  to  demonstrate  that 
it  alone  presents  a  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Nature, 
which  is  capable  of  standing  against  the  assaults  of 
Pantheism  on  the  one  side,  and  of  Deism  on  the  other. 
I  have  shevfn  also  that  in  its  contents  it  fulfils  the 
general  expectation  of  mankind.  All  religions  have 
for  their  aim  and  object  Truth,  Holiness,  and  Peace. 
The  Christian  Kevelation  alone  exhibits  them  in  a 
manner  which  is  worthy  of  God  who  gives  it,  and 
satisfactory  to  the  nature  of  man  who  receives  it. 
The  Bible  and  the  Creeds,  the  Person  and  Work 
of  Christ,  and  His  Kingdom  of  Peace,  are  manifesta- 
tions of  the  Divine  glory  and  mercy  of  the  Creator 
and  Father  of  all  men,  who  wills  to  draw  His  err- 
ing children  to  Himself  with  cords  of  love.  These 
precious  gifts  are  ours  in  Christ :  we  may  hold  fast 

^^  The  reader  will  find  the  question,  of  the  results  of  Episcopacy 
versus  Presbyterianism  as  it  appears  in  Scotland,  forcibly  stated  by 
Bishop  Charles  "Wordsworth  of  St.  Andrews,  Outlines  of  the  Chris- 
tian  Ministry,  Lect.  III.,  Argument  ex  consequenti  (Longmans, 
1872).  The  divine  origin  of  the  ministry  is  defended  in  the  for- 
mer Lectures,  and  in  his  Remarks  on  Dr.  Lightfoofs  Essay  on  the 
Christian  Ministry  (Parkers,  1879). 


336  The  Peace  of  the  Church.      [Lect.  VIII. 

to  them  and  hand  them  on  to  others,  or  we  may 
loosen  our  hold  of  them  and  make  the  faith  of  others 
weak.  May  God  grant  that  none  who  hear  these 
Lectures  may  have  the  misery  of  parting  from  their 
Saviour,  or  of  detaching  other  souls  from  Him.  May 
He  give  His  blessing  and  His  presence  to  those  truths 
which  have  been  learned  from  His  Word  and  the 
teaching  of  His  Church,  however  imperfectly  and 
weakly  expressed,  and  bring  all  who  hear  or  read 
these  words  to  "  follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  ho- 
liness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord" 
(Heb.  xii.  14). 


Additional  note  to  p.  320. 

For  the  most  recent  sceptical  criticism  of  the  Gospels,  see  an 
article  entitled  Mudes  d'Ristoire  religieuse :  critique  des  recits  sur 
la  vie  de  Jesus,  par  M.  Ernest  Havet,  de  I'lnstitut  de  France 
{Revue  des  deux  Mondes,  Avril,  1881,  tome  152,  pp.  582—622). 
M.  Havet  attacks  the  credibility  of  the  most  received  facts  of 
the  life  of  our  Lord,  and  reduces  His  intellectual  character  to  the 
lowest  possible  level,  leaving  the  Church  without  any  intelligible 
origin.  For  a  specimen  of  the  reply  to  which  this  criticism  is 
open,  directed  to  a  single  point,  see  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton's  able 
article,  Christ's  Prophecies  of  His  own  Death,  in  the  Expositor  for 
July,  1881,  second  series,  vol.  i.  pp.  457 — 472. 


337 


APPENDIX  I. 

Buddhism,  hy  Oscar  Frankfurter. 

To  understand  the  success  which  the  teaching  of  Gotama  the 
Buddha  had  among  the  people  of  India,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
earliest  history  of  this  country.  We  cannot,  indeed,  give  any  ac- 
count of  India  in  these  old  times  hut  such  as  we  can  extract  from 
the  literary  monuments,  and  as  they  are  only  of  a  religious  cha- 
racter, and  touch  very  slightly  on  history,  much  must,  of  course, 
remain  hypothetical.  The  sources  of  our  information  as  to  the  ear- 
liest ages  lie  in  the  sacred  hymns  which  the  ancient  Hindus  used 
to  chant  at  their  festivals.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  the 
hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda  do  not  all  belong  to  one  period.  Whilst 
we  must  date  the  main  substance  of  some  of  them  as  early  as  the 
sixteenth  century  b.c,  the  composition  of  others  approaches  very 
nearly  to  the  age  of  Gotama  himself,  who  was  destined  to  over- 
throw a  system  which  bore  in  its  later  stages  the  germs  of 
its  own  decay  and  destruction '. 

The  first  glimpses  afforded  us  by  the  hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda 
shew  us  the  Indian  people,  after  the  separation  from  their  other 
Aryan  brethren,  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  India,  and  not  divided 
into  castes.  Their  language  was  what  is  now  called  Vedic  Sanskrit, 
which  was  then  a  spoken  dialect.  They  were  an  agricultural  people, 
enjoying  life,  and  sacrificing  to  the  gods,  who  were  expected,  in 
return  for  these  sacrifices,  to  grant  the  prayers  which  the  faithful 
addressed  to  them.  The  father  of  the  family  was  ,also  the  priest, 
who  prayed  to  the  gods  for  a  long  life  and  a  numerous  progeny. 
This  primitive  state,  however,  did  not  last  long.  In  their  migra- 
tion farther  south,  they  met  with  aboriginal  peoples,  perhaps 
possessed  of  comparatively  greater  civilization.  These,  so  far  as 
we  can  infer  from  the  hymns,  they  subjugated  after  hard  struggles. 
The  next  result  of  the  intercourse  with  these  aboriginal  races,  for 
such  we  must  consider  the  Dasyus,  was  that  the  language  in  which 

1  Brahmanism,  which  followed  Buddhism,  after  the  latter  was  expelled 
from  India,  cannot  and  must  not  be  regarded  as  the  continuation  of  the 
"Vedic  religion.  It  was  simply  Buddhism,  adapted  to  Brahmanical  prejudices, 
with  aU  the  superstition  which  had  crept  up  when  Buddhism  ceased  to  be  in 
India  the  grand  spiritual  movement. 

Z 


338  Appendix  I. 

the  earliest  hymns  were  addressed  to  the  gods  became  unintelli- 
gible to  the  people.  In  a  few  families,  the  old  mode  of  reciting 
the  hymns  was  maintained ;  on  the  other  hand,  through  the  con- 
stant wars,  a  warrior  caste  (the  Kshattriyas)  sprung  up,  whilst  the 
bulk  of  the  people  still  kept  to  agricultural  pursuits  (Vaisyas). 

To  these  hymns,  which  were  handed  down  intact  from  father  to 
son,  a  certain  sacredness  was  attached,  and  it  was  believed  that  the 
gods  would  not  understand  them,  if  only  a  single  word  was  altered. 
New  hymns  were,  however,  added  to  the  stock,  which  reveal,  from 
more  than  one  aspect,  their  comparative  lateness.  To  one  of  these 
belongs  the  famous  Purusha-sukta  (R.Y.  x.  90),  which  gives  the 
earliest  account  of  the  origin  of  castes  (see  Appendix  III.,  p.  356). 
It  was  composed  when  the  Indians  were  settled  in  the  heart  of 
India.  The  only  seasons  mentioned  in  it  are  spring,  summer,  and 
autumn,  and  no  mention  is  made  of  the  winter,  which  is  counted 
as  one  of  the  seasons  by  writers  of  the  earliest  age.  Its  late- 
ness is  moreover  shewn  by  the  fact  that  the  Dasyus,  under  the 
name  of  /Sudras,  must  have  been  fully  recognised  by  the  Hindus, 
as  they  also  are  considered  to  have  originated  from  Purusha.  A 
century  later,  the  hymns  were  not  even  understood  wholly  by  the 
Brahmans  (the  priests),  and  it  is  to  that  time  that  we  must  as- 
cribe the  final  redaction  of  the  Vedic  hymns,  with  their  com- 
mentaries (about  600  B.C.). 

I  A  characteristic  of  the  Indian  mind,  in  the  age  of  which  we  are 
speaking,  is  its  deep  religiosity.  It  was,  certainly,  not  always  so ; 
but,  doubtless,  as  soon  as  the  conquest  of  India  was  accomplished, 
as  soon  as  the  condition  of  the  people  was  settled  again,  the  Indian 
mind  concentrated  all  its  powers  on  the  development  of  religion. 
Together  with  this  religious  feeling  we  notice  a  deep  reverence  for 
antiquity.  The  hymns  of  the  Ri^  Yeda,  after  having  been  once 
recognised  as  the  one  source  from  which  all  information  had  to 
come,  were  made  the  starting-point  of  all  kinds  of  speculation. 
It  was  still  in  the  main  the  same  Veda  in  the  seventh  century, 
as  it  was  in  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century  B.C.,  but  the  in- 
terpretation of  it  had  become  a  different  one. 

The  science  of  the  Vedas  (if  this  tautology  be  allowed)  was  for 
the  people  at  large  a  book  with  seven  seals.  "Within  the  Brahmanic 
caste,  however,  on  the  other  hand,  every  philosophy  was  based  on 
the  Veda;  and  every  one  of  these  philosophies,  based  on  the  Veda 
and  its  earliest  commentaries,  the  so-called  Brahma?ias,  and  more 
especially  the  Upanishads,  which  form  the  philosophical  part  of 
the  Arawyakas,  was  considered  orthodox.    The  latter  may  best  be 


Buddhism.  339 

described  as  a  sort  of  super-commentary  to  the  Veda.  A  wide 
range  was  left  for  individual  speculation ;  and  from  the  highest 
spiritualism  down  to  the  grossest  materialism,  systems  were 
founded  on  the  authority  of  the  Veda  as  a  revealed  book. 

The  religious  wants  of  the  people  remained,  however,  unsatisfied. 
The  Brahmans  usurped  an  intolerable  tyranny  over  the  masses  of 
the  people,  which  they  defended  by  the  theory  of  the  migration 
of  souls — a  doctrine  of  which  no  traces  can  be  found  in  the 
Vedic  hymns,  while  allusions  to  it  are  frequently  met  with  in 
the  Upanishads  ^. 

We  can,  therefore,  scarcely  wonder  that  out  of  the  caste  which 
for  a  long  time  struggled  with  the  Brahmans  for  supremacy,  the 
Kshattriyas,  reformers  should  arise,  who,  setting  aside  caste,  as- 
cribed to  the  Vedas,  as  means  of  religious  knowledge,  only  a 
limited  authority. 

This  brief  sketch  has  brought  us  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  when,  through  the  appearance  of  Gotama,  the  old 
Brahmanism  received  its  death-blow. 

We  purpose  in  the  following  pages  to  give  a  short  account  of 
the  history  and  doctrines  of  this  eminent  reformer. 

The  reformers  of  the  Kshattriya  caste  were  called  /Sramawas.  To 
address  the  people,  they  used  the  vernacular  languages  of  India, 
commonly,  or  without  adequate  reason,  called  by  the  native  gram- 
marians, Praknta,  as  derived  from  Sanskrit.  None  of  these  systems 
but  that  of  Gotaraa  (if  we  except  that  of  WigQ.ntM  Na^aputta,  the 
founder  of  the  Jain  religion,  the  sacred  books  of  which  have 
scarcely  begun  to  be  published)  can  have  had  any  very  brilliant 
success.  We  scarcely  know  more  of  these  systems  than  the  oc- 
casional allusions  made  in  the  Buddhist  scriptures  to  some  of  their 
doctrines.  But  we  gather  that  they  must  have  been  very  nume- 
rous ;  and  that  their  followers  were  generally  mendicants,  who 
were  convinced  of  the  vanity  and  futility  of  life,  and  tried  to  make 
the  best  of  things  by  withdrawal  from  the  world. 

Renewed  researches  might  possibly  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
manuscripts,  from  which  we  could  learn  more  about  these  early 
sects.  We  must,  however,  remember  that  literary  property  was 
not  much  respected  in  India.  When  a  sect  succeeded  in  stamping 
out  the  doctrines  of  another,  it  also  tried  to  destroy  the  books  in 
which  these  doctrines  were  propounded  :  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  a  certain  reputation  was  once  attached  to  a  name,  additions  were 

2  [Was  not  this  doctrine  of  transmigration  perhaps  borrowed  from  the 
lower  creed  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  ? — J.  W.] 

z2 


340  Appenclix  I. 

ma(\e  to  conform  the  doctrine  to  the  stanrlard  of  the  day.  These 
additions  were  always  made  in  a  dead  language,  by  men  who 
belong  to  a  nation  who  are  grammarians  kot  i^oxf]v,  and  so  it 
is  most  difficult  to  fix  the  date  of  any  Indian  book,  sometimes 
within  several  centuries ;  and  much,  must  be  left  to  internal  evi- 
dence and  subjective  reasoning.  The  best  example  of  this  compo- 
site work  is,  perhaps,  the  grammatical  literature  which,  goes  under 
the  name  of  Pawini ;  or,  to  speak  of  Buddhist  literature,  the  Com- 
mentaries which  are  known  under  the  name  of  Buddha ghosa. 

We  are  in  a  better  position  as  regards  Buddhism  itself,  and 
though  we  cannot  attempt  to  give  the  exact  date  of  the  time  when 
its  sacred  writings  were  compiled,  we  can  within  a  few  years  fix 
the  period  in  which  Gotama  lived.  This  is  certainly  due  to  the 
fact  that  Buddhism  was  a  popular  religion,  which,  as  we  shall  see 
later  on,  did  not  give  much,  if  any,  scope  to  the  gods  to  form  men's 
destiny,  and  considered  the  conduct  of  life  of  higher  value  than  any 
other  Indian  religion  did.  Through  the  famous  edicts  of  Asoka, 
about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  B.C.,  taken  together  with  the 
information  contained  in  the  sacred  books  themselves,  we  are  able 
to  fix  the  death  of  Gotama  within  six  years,  viz.  between  483— 
477  B.C.,  and  his  attaining  to  the  highest  wisdom  in  543  B.C.,  the 
beginning  of  the  Sinhalese  era.  If  the  account  given  in  different 
books  is  right,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  it,  Gotama  attained 
to  this  wisdom  when  he  was  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  and  this 
would  therefore  fix  his  birth  to  the  year  572.  "We  further  learn 
from  the  Buddhavamsa,  one  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Khuddaka 
Nikaya, — the  statements  of  which,  though  evidently  of  a  later 
date,  and  already  intermixed  with  some  myths,  are  confirmed 
by  the  other  sacred  writings, — that  Gotama  was  the  son  of  Sud- 
dhodana,  the  King  of  Kapilavatthu,  and  his  wife  MayadevT,  that 
he  was  married  to  SaddakaK-ana,  from  whom  he  had  a  son  Rahula. 
His  two  chief  disciples  were  Kolita  and  Upatissa ;  his  personal 
attendant,  Ananda ;  whilst  Khema  and  Uppalavanna  are  given  as 
the  names  of  his  female  disciples  ^.  "We  learn  further,  that  he  was 
brought  up  in  the  house  of  his  father  with  great  splendour,  but 
that,  tired  of  a  life  of  idleness,  he  forsook  the  world.  His  deter- 
mination is  poetically  illustrated  by  four  sights  he  had,  shewing 

^  The  admission  of  female  disciples,  though  belonging  to  Buddha's  own 
time,  is  considerably  later  than  the  institution  of  the  order  of  mendicants. 
The  A'uUavagga  relates  that  Gotama  could  not  be  persuaded  to  institute 
an  order  of  female  mendicants  till  after  the  repeated  requests  of  Mahapa- 
japatl  Gotami,  his  aunt  and  foster-mother. 


Buddhism.  341 

the  misery  of  man's  life, — a  decrepit  old  man,  a  leper,  a  dead 
body,  and  a  recluse ;  most  likely,  however,  political  combinations 
were  the  principal  cause  for  his  resolution  to  become  a  mendicant. 
Wassiliew,  Buddhism,  p.  12,  refers  to  a  legend,  according  to  which, 
whilst  Gotama  was  preaching  the  law,  the  whole  tribe  of  the  Sakya 
was  extii'pated  by  the  Yirudhakas.  He  asks  whether  this  event 
did  not,  perhaps,  take  place  before  Gotama  left  his  home. 

After  he  attained  Buddhahood  ■*,  he  preached  his  first  sermou 
(he  inaugurated  the  dominion  of  the  law,  or  in  Buddhist  phrase- 
ology, he  turned  the  wheel  of  the  law)  at  a  place  near  Benares, 
called  Isipatana.  This  sermon  is  still  to  be  found  in  the  sacred 
writings.  It  has  lately  been  translated  by  Mr.  Ehys  Davids  in  the 
series  of  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  vol.  xi.  p.  146,  and  is  called  the 
Dhamma-JTakkappavattana-sutta. 

Before  we  attempt  to  give  the  outlines  of  Gotama's  doctrines,  it 
will,  I  think,  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  briefly  the  opinion 
Gotama  held  of  himself  as  a  religious  teacher.  For  these  we  are 
dependent  solely  on  the  sacred  writings,  or  Pi^akas.  A  few  words 
upon  the  date  and  character  of  these  writings  are  also  necessary 
in  this  connection. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  Buddhists, 
as  they  are  now  extant,  embrace  three  great  collections,  which  are 
respectively  called  the  Vinaya-pi^aka,  treating  on  the  outward  disci- 
j  pline  of  the  order  of  mendicants,  and  the  Sutta  and  Abhidhamma 
'  pi^akas,  treating  of  the  doctrine.  Tradition  would  have  us  believe 
that  two  of  these  great  collections  were  abeady  in  the  shape  in 
which  we  now  have  them,  a  few  months  after  the  master's  death, 
when  a  rehearsal  took  place.  The  concluding  chapter  of  the 
^ulla  Vagga  tells  us  that  this  was  performed  at  an  assembly 
convened  in  consequence  of  the  heretical  tendencies  of  Subhadda. 
Now  the  JS^illa  Vagga  is  the  only  book  which  gives  such  an  ac- 
count, whilst  the  Maha-parinibbana- sutta,  which  relates  the  death 
and  obsequies,  and  the  distribution  of  the  relics  of  the  Buddha, 
keeps  silence  on  this  fact.  It  has  been  very  well  pointed  out 
by  Professor  Max  Miiller,  in  opposition  to  Dr.  Oldenberg,  that 
the  not  mentioning  of  this  Council  does  not  necessarily  imply 
that  it  did  not  take  place,  as  an  account  of  the  Council  would 
be  somewhat  out  of  place  in  such  a  connection.  Most  likely, 
therefore,  it  did  take  place,  but  scarcely  to  rehearse  the  whole 

■*  The  period  which  elapsed  from  the  time  of  his  determination  to  for- 
sake the  world  until  his  attainment  of  the  highest  wisdom,  is  given  differ- 
ently in  various  books,  varying  from  a  few  hours  to  six  years. 


342  Appendix  I. 

of  the  Scriptures,  but  to  fix  some  rules  for  the  guidance  of  the 
mendicant  order,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  Dhamma.  This 
was  highly  necessary,  as  the  Buddhist  Church  soon  became  a  pro- 
selytizing body.  There  was  no  time  in  Buddha's  lifetime  to  fix 
the  text  of  the  Scriptures,  as  he  was  wandering  about  until  the 
very  last  moment,  preaching  his  law,  and  trying  to  gain  converts 
to  the  new  doctrine.  "We  find  evidence  of  this  in  the  Scriptures 
themselves.  The  Sutta  and  Yinaya-pi^aka  both  introduce  his 
teaching  frequently,  the  former  always  with  the  words  :  "  Thus 
it  was  heard  by  me."  *'  Once  upon  a  time  the  Blessed  One  lived," 
or  "  Once  upon  a  time  when  the  Blessed  was  wandering  about 
with  his  alms-bowl." 

It  therefore  remains  to  be  seen  if  we  can  discover  among  the 
extant  Scriptures  such  as  would  be  likely  to  form  the  foundation 
on  which  the  others  were  based.  In  the  case  of  the  Yinaya,  we 
are  (thanks  to  the  acumen  of  Dr.  Oldcnberg)  in  a  position  to  point 
to  such  a  book.  It  is  the  Patimokkha,  the  Office  of  the  Confession 
of  male  and  female  mendicants,  which  forms  the  basis  of  the 
Yibhanga.  A  book  which  forms  the  foundation  of  the  other  two 
books,  the  Maha  Yagga  and  the  ^ulla  Yagga,  was  certainly  once 
extant.  At  present,  we  can  only  suppose  that  it  was  a  treatise 
similar  in  contents  to  the  KammavaX-a,  which  contains  ecclesiasti- 
cal rites  and  formulas,  such  as  are  treated  in  greater  length  in 
the  Maha  Yagga. 

Our  knowledge  of  Buddhism  is  not  yet  far  enough  advanced  to 
say  with  equal  certainty  which  books  form  the  foundation  of  the 
Dhamma.  We  must  keep  in  mind,  leaving  it  for  future  investiga- 
tion, that  at  the  first  so-called  Council  mention  is  made  only  of 
the  Dhamma  and  the  Yinaya.  Now  the  title  of  Abhidhamma  for 
the  last  of  the  three  collections  is  of  a  later  date  ;  and  if  it  is  quite 
true  that  in  the  Abhidhamma  several  very  late  works  were  in- 
cluded, (such  as  the  Kathavatthu,  of  which  it  is  expressly  stated 
that  it  was  added  to  the  collection  by  Moggaliputta  at  the  third 
Council,  about  247  b.c),  we  find  in  it,  nevertheless,  some  very 
simple  books  which  contain  a  resume  of  Gotama's  doctrine,  pro- 
pounded in  a  most  unattractive  and  matter-of-fact  form,  which 
might  be  earlier  than  the  Sutta  Pi^aka,  and  form  its  foundation. 

To  get  a  clear  idea  of  what  the  original  doctrines  of  Buddhism 
consisted,  we  are  therefore,  as  far  as  the  Dhamma  is  concerned, 
dependent  on  internal  evidence.  This  internal  evidence  can  even 
now  be  brought  to  a  very  high  degree  of  probability,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  those  doctrines  which  may  be  considered-  as  really  and 


Buddhism,  343 

thoroughly  Gotama's  own  teaching,  will  occur  over  and  over  again 
in  different  parts  of  the  sacred  books ;  whilst  those  which  were 
added  later  appear  only  once  in  the  books. 

f  Between  the  first  Council  at  Rajagaha,  if  Council  it  can  be 
called,  to  the  second  Council,  which  took  place  at  Vesali  about 
383  B.C.,  and  for  which  we  have  historical  evidence,  the  great  bulk 
of  the  Buddhist  Scriptures  were  composed.  This  Council  was  con- 
vened for  the  purpose  of  settling  ten  questions,  on  which  a  dispute 
had  arisen  among  the  priesthood.  Only  one  of  these  questions  is 
mentioned  in  the  Vinaya  as  it  is  now  before  us.  "We  must, 
therefore,  infer  that  the  Vinaya,  as  we  have  it  now,  is  older  than 
the  Council  at  Yesall.  We  shall,  therefore,  be  right  if,  in  accord- 
ance with  Dr.  Oldenberg,  we  place  the  main  substance  of  the  Sutta 
and  Yinaya  literature  about  400  b.c.  When  the  text  was  finally 
completed,  as  we  now  have  it,  is  much  more  difficult  to  determine. 
We  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  Indian  philosophers 
liked  to  make  additions  to  the  writings  of  their  great  men,  in 
order  to  impart  a  certain  sacredness  to  their  own  opinions. 

Of  course,  allusions  to  Gotama's  opinion  of  himself  will  but 
rarely  occur.  Happily,  however,  we  find  some  few  instances  from 
which  we  can  not  only  gather  what  others  thought  of  him,  but 
what  he  thought  of  himself.  The  discourses  (suttas)  almost  al- 
ways represent  an  unbeliever  who  belongs  to  the  Brahmanical 
caste  as  coming  to  Gotama,  whom  he  addresses  simply  and  dis- 
respectfully as  Bho  Gotama,  in  order  to  get  up  a  dispute  with 
him,  which  he  commences  by  putting  a  knotty  question;  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  also,  the  unbeliever  is  converted.  The  Brahmans, 
it  may  also  be  inferred,  felt  a  painful  awe  of  this  new  teacher, 
who  did  not  belong  to  their  own  caste,  and  who  tried  successfully 
to  destroy  the  privilege  of  caste  by  addressing  himself  to  the 
people.  They  did  all  in  their  power  to  blemish  his  character, 
and  their  false  accusations  of  incontinence  and  other  vices  are 
frequently  the  subject  of  Buddhist  books.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  all  these  are  triumphantly  refuted. 

It  is  on  such  occasions  that  he  speaks  of  his  own  character;  and 
he  does  so  likewise,  if,  as  in  the  case  of  the  King  of  Magadha, 
Ayatasattu  Vedehiputta,  he  is  asked  for  advice,  or  for  the  outlines 
of  his  doctrine.  Furthermore,  when  Mara,  the  evil  spirit,  appears 
to  tempt  him,  he  is  ready  to  speak  of  his  own  abilities.  We  have,  of 
course,  in  this  last  instance,  only  the  outcome  of  the  popular  belief 
in  his  powers  entertained  by  the  members  of  his  own  sect.  All 
the  three  instances,  however,  go  far  to  shew  that  he  did  not  attri- 


344  Ap2^endix  I. 

laute  his  doctrine  to  any  supernatural  revelation.  It  was  a  firmly 
established  fact  with  him,  as  with  his  followers,  that  the  doctrine 
•which  he  propounded  was  the  outcome  of  faculties  acquired  in  dif- 
ferent characters  in  previous  births.  For  the  wisdom  he  had  at- 
tained he  had  only  to  thank  himself.  What  he  speaks  most  of  is 
his  kindness  and  charity  towards  all  living  creatures;  and  con- 
fronting his  doctrines  with  those  of  other  sectarians,  he  maintains 
that  theirs  are  based  on  tradition,  and  thus  liable  to  be  perverted, 
whilst  the  eifects  of  his  own  are  immediate,  unlimited  by  time, 
conducive  to  salvation,  attractive  to  all  comers,  a  fitting  object  of 
contemplation.  He  has  freed  himself  from  all  sensual  desires,  and 
is  thus  able  to  free  all  living  creatures  from  them,  in  shewing  them 
the  path  which  leads  to  their  highest  bliss. 

We  have,  however,  now  to  ask  what  made  the  doctrine  of  Go- 
tama  spread  so  rapidly.  We  have  already  spoken  shortly  of  the 
state  of  Indian  affairs  in  Gotama's  time,  and  of  the  religious  wants 
of  the  people.  High-minded  philosophers  Avere  eager  to  minis- 
ter to  these  wants,  and  the  names  of  several  such  reformers  are 
given  in  the  Buddhist  scriptures.  We  shall  best  be  able  to  judge 
of  the  success  of  Gotama's  doctrine  when  we  compare  the  answer 
he  gave  to  the  question,  What  were  the  fruits  of  a  religious  life  ? 
to  that  given  by  others. 

Some  of  these  reformers  maintained  that  a  holy  or  unholy  life 
has  no  reward  or  punishment,  and  that  as  the  greatest  crime 
may  be  committed  without  any  result,  so  also  a  religious  life  and 
works  of  charity  are  of  no  avail.  Or  they  preached  a  law  of  fa- 
tality, to  which  every  being  is  subject :  he  has  to  run  through  the 
course  of  migration,  and  the  wise  and  the  fool  will  arrive  at  the 
same  goal  after  they  have  completed  these  migrations.  Or  again, 
as  man  is  made  of  the  four  elements,  earth,  water,  fire,  air,  so  after 
his  death  the  constituent  parts  of  the  body  will  become  those  four 
elements  again,  but  for  good  or  bad  deeds  he  will  not  have  any 
rewards  or  punishments.  The  answer  Niga/^^/ea  Na^aputta  gave, 
also  avoiding  the  question,  was,  that  the  Niganthas  are  well  de- 
fended in  four  directions.  They  restrain  sinful  propensities  by 
general  abstinence  from  evil;  they  weaken  the  evil  by  controll- 
ing it ;  they  spare  the  evil ;  they  are  under  self-control. 

No  one  of  all  these  philosophers  grappled  with  the  difficulties 
of  a  reward  for  good  deeds  in  the  present  life.  Gotama,  when  asked 
the  question  about  the  fruits  of  a  religious  life,  shewed  the  advan- 
tage of  that  conduct,  which  makes  even  the  man  in  a  humble 
condition  respected.     He  shews,  furthermore,  that  a -religious  life 


Buddhism.  345 

leads  to  the  keeping  of  the  laws,  which  hear  in  themselves  the 
germ  of  self-satisfaction,  as  they  lead  to  the  destruction  of  pas- 
sions. .  Not  only  the  mendicant  who  keeps  the  precepts,  but  also 
the  layman,  is  happy  and  rewarded.  In  what,  then,  consists  the 
happiness  of  a  religious  life  ?  "We  find  the  answer  most  poetically 
given  in  the  following  quotation  from  the  GdtaJcaUhavannand : — 

"By  what  can  every  heart  attain  to  lasting  happiness  and 
peace  ?  To  him  whose  heart  was  estranged  from  sin  the  answer 
came  :  "When  the  fire  of  lust  is  gone  out,  then  peace  is  gained ; 
when  the  fire  of  hatred  and  delusion  are  gone  out,  then  peace  is 
gained ;  when  the  troubles  of  mind  arising  from  pride,  credulity, 
and  all  other  sins  have  ceased,  then  peace  is  gained." 

The  peculiarity  of  this  answer  is  self-evident ;  it  is,  however, 
quite  in  accordance  with  the  other  tenets  of  Buddhism.  A  Bud- 
dhist, not  knowing  of  any  supreme  external  power  by  which  salva- 
tion could  be  attained,  had  necessarily  to  look  for  salvation  to  an 
internal  power.  This  power  is  found  in  the  subjugation  of  pas- 
sions, which  is  considered  by  Buddhists  as  amounting  to  the  high- 
est state  of  blessedness  (beatitude). 

In  order  to  understand  fully  this  doctrine,  we  have  to  turn  our 
attention  first  to  one  of  the  earliest  tenets  of  Buddhism,  the  so- 
called  Chain  of  Causation.  This  doctrine  is  said  to  have  been 
taught  by  succeeding  Buddhas  *. 

Before  commenting  on  this  Chain  of  Causation,  it  will  perhaps 
be  better  to  give  a  literal  translation  of  the  passage  in  which 
it  is  described.  It  is  always  difficult  to  translate  philosophical 
terms.  The  expressions  used  may  suggest  associations  with  others 
already  known  from  another  philosophy,  and  impart  thus  an  en- 
tirely wrong  idea.  It  is  more  difficult  still  in  the  Buddhist  phi- 
losophy. A  native  Hindu  has  naturally  diff"erent,  ideas  on  this 
subject  from  one  whose  early  training  and  surroundings  have  been 
entirely  different. 

"From  ignorance  spring  the  conditions  of  existence;  from  the 
conditions  of  existence  spring  consciousness;  from  consciousness 
the  individual,  consisting  of  mind  and  body ;  from  the  individual, 

*  It  is  well  known  that  the  orthodox  Buddhist  belief  is  that  Gotama  was 
not  the  only  Buddha,  but  that  other  Buddhas  preceded  him ;  and  that  when 
the  world  is  relapsing  into  wickedness,  other  Buddhas  will  follow  to  save  it. 
We  have  thus  in  the  Buddhavamsa,  one  of  the  sacred  books,  the  history  of 
twenty-four  Buddhas,  besides  that  of  Gotama  himself.  Also  a  twenty- sixth 
Buddha  is  said  to  reside  in  the  so-called  Tusita  heaven.  Allusions  are  like- 
wise made  in  various  other  parts  of  the  Piiakas. 


346  Appendix  I. 

the  six  organs  of  sense ;  from  the  six  organs  of  sense,  contact ; 
from  contact,  sensation ;  from  sensation,  craving ;  from  craving, 
attachment ;  from  attachment,  continued  existence ;  from  exist- 
ence, birth ;  from  birth,  decay  and  death,  sorrow,  lamentation, 
pain,  grief,  and  despair." 

Ignorance,  which,  as  the  main  cause  of  existence,  is  put  at  the 
head  of  the  list,  is  explained  to  mean  the  ignorance  of  the  four 
great  truths  on  which  the  whole  Buddhist  philosophy  is  based, — 
the  nature  of  suflfering,  the  cause  of  suffering,  the  cessation  of  suf- 
fering, the  path  leading  to  the  cessation  of  suffering.  Without 
knowing  these  four  truths,  no  beatitude  can  be  brought  about. 

In  ignorance,  then,  the  conditions  of  existence  have  their  origin. 
The  term  which  I  have  translated  "conditions  of  existence"  has 
been  rendered  in  different  ways.  Its  meaning,  however,  appears 
clear :  it  is  meant  to  signify  that  which  causes  a  living  being  to 
be  born  in  one  of  the  Buddhist  worlds,  in  a  position  determined 
by  his  previous  thoughts,  words,  and  actions. 

The  next  link  in  the  chain  is  consciousness,  consisting  of  the 
consciousness  of  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  tongue,  touch,  and  mind.  This 
consciousness  unites  with  the  embryo  in  the  mother's  womb,  and 
produces  the  individual,  consisting  of  mind  and  body.  These  two 
links  are  thus  united  to  each  other ;  the  existence  of  either  of 
them  is  dependent  on  the  other.  Without  consciousness,  the  in- 
dividual cannot  be  produced  ;  without  the  individual,  no  con- 
sciousness. 

In  the  individual,  the  six  organs  of  sense  have  their  origin, 
which  consist  of  the  abstracts, — form,  sound,  odour,  taste,  contact, 
and  ideas.  These  abstracts  give  rise  to  contact,  which  consists 
equally  of  six  divisions  corresponding  to  the  above,  viz.  eye,  ear, 
nose,  tongue,  body,  and  mind.  It  will  be  seen  that  for  the  five 
senses  of  our  philosophy  Buddhism  has  six,  adding  mind  to  them. 

From  contact  springs  sensation.  We  learn  that  this  sensation 
is  threefold, — pleasant,  unpleasant,  neither  pleasant  nor  unplea- 
sant. It  gives  rise  to  craving.  Though  later  works  enumerate 
a  great  number  of  cravings,  all  may  be  fairly  divided  into  three 
groups, — craving  for  sensual  pleasure,  for  continued  existence, 
and  for  non-existence. 

Craving  is  the  cause  of  attachment,  which  is  fourfold.  Its  divi- 
sions are  sensual  pleasure,  wrong  doctrines,  ritualism,  and  self- 
consciousness.  This  attachment  is  the  immediate  cause  of  con- 
tinued existence  in  one  of  the  Sattalokas,  the  abode  of  living 
beings,  of  which  there  are  thirty-one.     A  new  birth  arises  from 


Buddhism.  347 

this  continued  existence,  out  of  which  follow  decay,  death,  sorrow, 
lamentation,  pain,  grief,  and  despair. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  this  way  of  accounting  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  existence  is  a  somewhat  arbitrary  one.  It  is  quite 
true  that  one  thing  does  not  necessarily  follow  out  of  the  other, 
that  the  chain  extends  practically  over  three  births,  the  first  be- 
ginning with  ignorance,  the  second  with  consciousness,  and  the 
last  with  attachment,  as  the  cause  of  continued  existence.  But 
we  should  certainly  considerably  underrate  the  great  reasoning- 
power  of  Buddhists,  were  we  to  suppose  that  they  believed  the 
links  of  the  chain  to  follow  strictly  one  out  of  the  other.  They 
are  simply  twelve  reasons  for  continued  existence  which  is  set  on 
fire  through  the  passions  of  lust,  hatred,  and  delusion. 

An  opportunity  to  free  himself  from  this  chain  (which,  for  the 
■world  as  a  whole,  is  practically  eternal,  for  birth  follows  birth) 
is  given  to  the  individual. 

Questioned  in  what  Beatitude  (Nirvana)  consists,  Gotama  returns 
the  answer,  "In  the  extinction  of  the  three  fires  of  lust,  hatred, 
and  delusion;"  and  further  questioned  how  the  individual  could 
attain  to  this  beatitude,  he  returns  the  answer,  "  Through  the  nolle 
eightfold  path, ^^  of  which  he  thus  enumerates  the  single  divisions: 
right  views,  right  aims,  right  speech,  right  conduct,  right  liveli- 
hood, right  exertion,  right-mindedness,  and  right  meditation. 

These  terms  are  wide  and  general,  and  they  would,  without  any 
explanation,  embrace  the  substance  of  a  holy  life.  However  we 
find,  though  evidently  in  later  parts  of  the  Pi^akas,  an  explana- 
tion of  the  path,  which  mostly  substitutes  technical  expressions 
for  the  wide  and  general  terms. 

"We  learn  thus  that  Buddhists  considered  right  views  as  the 
knowledge  of  the  four  great  truths,  the  ignoranc^  of  which,  as 
we  have  shewn  above,  is  the  immediate  cause  of  existence.  Right 
aims  are  explained  to  be  such  as  are  free  from  malice  and  cruelty, 
and  such  as  tend  to  a  renouncing  of  the  world. 

The  following  three  divisions,  right  speech,  right  conduct,  and 
right  livelihood,  refer  more  to  the  practical  part  of  the  Buddhist 
life.  Bight  speech  and  right  conduct  contain  in  themselves  the 
essence  of  those  of  the  Ten  Commandments  which  treat  of  the 
duties  towards  our  neighbours.  Bight  speech  is  explained  as  to 
abstain  from  lying  and  slander,  and  from  the  use  of  harsh  and 
frivolous  language ;  right  conduct,  as  to  abstain  from  destroying 
life,  from  theft,  and  from  unchastity.  The  third,  right  livelihood, 
takes  a  still  more  practical  turn,  as  it  enforces  the  gaining  of 


348  Apj^endix  I. 

a  livelihood,  which  will  not  in  any  way  harm  a  fellow- creature, 
or  one's  own  mind  or  body.  To  gain  a  livelihood  as  a  butcher 
would  certainly  be  against  this  law.  Other  modes  of  gaining 
a  living  are  open  to  objection,  and  the  commentator  enumerates, 
in  the  first  instance,  the  livelihood  which  a  dancing-girl  gains 
by  her  occupation. 

The  explanation  of  the  last  three  divisions  occurs  in  the  same 
way  in  the  Abhidhamma-pi^aka ;  we  may  consider  those  three, 
therefore,  as  the  earliest  attempt  to  explain  the  terms  which  in 
•  the  course  of  time  had  become  unintelligible.  As  to  the  other 
explanations  of  the  Abhidhamma-pi^aka,  we  must  at  present  re- 
frain from  giving  an  opinion  of  them,  as  very  little  is  known  of 
the  books  in  which  they  are  contained. 

The  explanatioa  of  the  last  three  divisions  breathes  again  more 
of  the  philosophy  of  later  Buddhism.  "We  are  told  that  right  ex- 
ertion means  an  occupation  that  shall  so  interest  the  mind,  as 
to  prevent  any  possibility  of  an  evil  condition  of  mind  from  arising, 
and  also  will  dispel  any  sinful  state  or  thought  already  in  exist- 
ence, thus  producing  a  healthy  condition  both  of  mind  and  body. 

Right-mindedness  is  explained  to  mean  the  continual  recollec- 
tion of  the  natural  weakness  and  impurity  of  the  body,  the  evils 
of  sensation,  the  evanescence  of  thought,  and  the  conditions  of 
existence. 

Eight  meditation,  finally,  is  said  to  mean  those  profound  medi- 
tations by  which  the  believer's  mind  is  purged  from  all  earthly 
emotions,  but  no  thought  of  any  higher  being  is  ever  suggested. 

"We  have  purposely  refrained  from  every  polemic.  Our  state- 
ments have  been  taken  from  the  earliest  sacred  writings  of  the 
Buddhists  themselves,  and  we  hope  that  they  will  tend  to  clear 
the  way  to  a  more  correct  understanding  of  Nirvawa  than  is  per- 
haps general  *. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked,  whether  Buddhist  philosophy 
acknowledges  the  existence  of  a  God  who,  as  a  supreme  ruler, 

^  The  common  notion  that  Nirvama  is  annihilation,  is  certainly  due  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  difficult  for  a  European  mind  to  imagine  a  state  of  blissful 
existence  in  life.  Nothing  in  the  Buddlaist  scriptures,  as  far  as  they  are  at 
present  known,  tends  to  confirm  the  idea  that  annihilation  is  the  desired 
end  of  life.  Another  notion  of  Nirva/ia,  where  it  is  said  to  mean  a  blissful 
existence  after  death,  is  mostly  propounded  by  writers  on  modern  Buimese 
Buddhism.  This  we  have  reason  to  ascribe  to  the  fact  that  one  of  the  ex- 
istences in  heaven,  as  reward  for  a  pious  life,  was  mistaken  for  the  final 
goal  to  which  every  Buddhist  aspired  as  the  summum  bonum,' 


Buddhism.  349 

governs  mankind  and  all  sentient  beings,  and  who  is  the  framer 
of  man's  destiny?  "We  have  already  drawn  attention  to  the 
influence  which  the  Vedic  mythology  exercised  on  the  popular 
belief  of  the  Indian  people ;  how,  in  return  for  the  sacrifices,  the 
Hindu  expected  the  granting  of  those  wishes  for  which  he  asked. 
The  popular  Indian  belief  never  raised  itself  to  such  a  height  of 
speculation  as  to  acknowledge  the  simple  notion  of  a  single  Creator. 
The  notion  always  remained  behind  that  only  in  return  for  sacri- 
fices one  could  expect  the  fulfilment  of  wishes.  In  his  pity  for 
all  living  beings,  Gotama  disallowed  sacrifices,  and  the  next  conse- 
quence was  that  man  was  not  made  dependent  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  wishes  on  the  free-will  of  the  gods.  However,  the 
belief  in  these  gods  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  Indian  mind,  and 
was  transferred  to  Buddhism,  just  as  the  belief  in  Thor,  "Wodan, 
Balder,  and  the  rest  prevailed  among  the  Teutonic  nations  even 
after  their  conversion  to  Christianity.  In  our  own  fairy  tales 
and  epic  poems  we  have  a  case  exactly  analogous.  It  is  well 
known  that  Beowulf,  Sigfrid,  Kriemhild  and  Brunhild  of  the 
Nibelungenlied,  are  representatives  of  the  gods  of  the  old  Norse 
mythology.  They  have  become  good  Christians  in  the  course 
of  time,  just  as  the  Vedic  gods  became  good  Buddhists.  Many 
a  characteristic  of  their  old  power  nevertheless  still  remained, 
and  many  a  true  and  beautiful  word  and  deed  are  related  of  them, 
not  unworthy  of  their  previous  dignity.  On  the  other  hand, 
just  as  the  Teutonic  nations  pitied  the  water-spiites  because  they 
could  not  be  saved,  the  Buddhist  would  feel  pity  for  some  of 
the  old  Vedic  gods  because  they  could  or  would  not  listen  to  the 
teachings  of  the  Buddha.  The  gods,  however,  seldom  act  from  their 
own  initiative,  but  nevertheless  such  a  case  is  related  in  the  later 
legend,  when,  after  the  attainment  of  Buddhahood,  Gotama  hesitates 
for  a  while  to  communicate  to  mankind  the  truths  he  has  dis- 
covered, Maha  Brahma  quitted  the  Brahma  world  and  appeared 
before  him,  and  loosing  his  robe  from  one  shoulder  in  token  of 
respect,  and  falling  upon  one  knee,  implored  the  sage  not  to  keep 
back  from  man  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  beatitude.  A  god 
has  only  a  temporal  existence,  and  he  ranks  of  course  below  the 
Buddhas.  The  existence  as  a  god  is  a  reward  for  a  pious  life,  but 
according  to  his  kamma  he  will  be  born  in  a  lower  or  higher  sta- 
tion ;  he  may,  once  upon  a  time,  become  a  Buddha,  and  be  thus 
able  to  release  mankind  and  gods  from  all  bonds  of  suffering. 
Thus  the  legends  relate  that  Gotama  himself  was  born  four  times 
as  the  god  Indra  (Sakka  Inda  devanam). 


350  Appendix  I. 

One  can,  in  my  opinion,  neither  blame  Buddhism  for  its  atheism 
or  agnosticism,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  pretend  that  Buddhism 
was  a  monotheistic  religion.  The  reproach  of  atheism  would  only 
be  justified  if  it  could  be  proved  that  Buddhism  received  from  an- 
other religion  the  notion  and  strict  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  su- 
preme being,  which  it  wilfully  ignored.  Such  is,  however,  not 
the  case ;  no  more  is  the  notion  of  monotheism  in  accordance  with 
the  tenets  of  Buddhism.  The  Brahman,  which  the  later  Hindus 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  an  abstract  supreme  being,  to  whom  they 
wished  to  be  united,  was  in  Buddhism  still  only  one  deity  amongst 
many.  As  such,  he  had  a  temporary  existence,  as  every  other 
god  of  the  Yedic  Pantheon,  and  was  subject  to  birth  and  decay. 
!  Moreover,  the  Buddhist  did  not  recognise  a  soul  in  man,  without 
which  the  idea  of  monotheism  is  not  conceivable.  It  substitutes 
for  soul  the  kamma  of  man  (the  outcome  of  his  words,  deeds,  and 
thoughts),  much  in  accordance  with  the  Latin  proverb,  "Fortunse 
suae  quisque  faber  est,"  and  the  well-known  maxim  of  modern 
philosophy,  that  every  being  is  only  the  outcome  of  the  accu- 
mulated deeds  of  his  ancestors ' . 

The  existence  of  living  beings  was  not  restricted  to  the  earth, 
as  the  Buddhist  world-system  embraces  innumerable  abodes  for 
living  beings,  in  which  they  are  born  according  to  their  kamma. 
The  older  theory  of  the  migration  of  the  soul  maintained  that  the 
soul  remained  the  same,  and  migrated  as  such  to  different  cor- 
poreal forms.  Buddhism,  denying  the  soul,  but  admitting  the 
kamma,  the  individual  outcome  of  words,  deeds,  and  thoughts, 
had  the  strange  theory,  in  conformity  with  the  older  one  of  soul, 
that  the  kamma  was  accumulated  in  a  new  being. 

It  has  often  been  asked  how  this  theory  of  kamma,  and  the 
denial  of  the  existence  of  a  soul,  can  be  brought  into  agreement 
with  the  fact  that  Gotama  knew  in  what  particular  characters  he 
had  previously  appeared  among  living  beings,  and  how  he  could 
preserve  consciousness,  such  as  is  related  of  him  in  the  Gdtakat- 
thavannand.  This  book  contains,  as  is  well  known,  fables  and 
fairy  tales,  which  are  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  teacher  with  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  a  doctrine  in  a  humorous  way.     Their  ori- 

7  Cp.  also  Goethe's  Iphigenie  auf  Tauris,  Act  I.  Scene  3  : — 
"  .  .  .  Es  erzeugt  nicht  gleich 
Ein  Haus  den  Halbgott  noch  das  Ungeheuer ; 
Erst  eine  Eeihe  Boser  oder  Guter 
Bringt  endlich  das  Entsetzen,  bringt  die  Freude 
Der  Welt  hervor." 


Buddhism.  351 

gin  is  doubtless  due,  "  for  the  most  part,  to  the  religious  faith 
of  the  Indian  Buddhist  of  the  third  or  fourth  century  e.g.,  who 
not  only  repeated  a  number  of  fables,  parables,  and  stories,  as- 
cribed to  the  Buddha,  but  gave  them  a  peculiar  sacredness  and 
a  special  religious  significance,  by  identifying  the  best  character 
in  each  with  the  Buddha  himself  in  some  previous  birth"  (Davids' 
Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  vol.  i.  p.  Ixxxii.). 

It  has  until  lately  been  assumed  that  the  G'ataka  without  the 
commentary  is  no  longer  extant ;  but  I  have  seen  a  MS.  of  the 
6^ataka  simply  containing  the  verses,  which  gave  the  commentator 
an  opportunity  to  relate  the  stories  which  he  puts  in  the  mouth 
of  Gotama,  and  in  which  he  makes  him  play  a  prominent  part. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  commentator  who  is  responsible  for  the  per- 
version of  the  original  doctrine.  All  vague  assertions  about  the 
non-agreement  of  the  denial  of  the  soul  with  the  fact  of  Gotama's 
knowledge  of  his  previous  existences  are  worthless.  It  is  to  be 
inferred,  therefore,  that  through  taking  the  G'ataka  with  the  com- 
mentary as  the  original,  the  opinion  arose  that  what  the  Buddha 
knew  of  his  previous  existences  was  due  to  the  knowledge  he 
had  of  the  future,  present,  and  past,  which  was  one  of  the  attri- 
butes of  Buddhahood. 

"We  have  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  collected  together  such 
facts  as  can  be  considered  firmly  established  about  the  life  of  the 
Buddha,  and  the  law  he  preached.  It  remains  now  for  us  to  de- 
scribe the  character  of  the  community  (Sangha)  to  which  Gotama, 
in  the  first  instance,  directed  his  teachings.  It  has  already  been 
briefly  noticed  that  orders  of  mendicants  (bhikkhus)  were  not 
unknown  at  the  time  when  Gotama  commenced  his  teaching, 
and  to  such  mendicants  he  addressed  himself.  The  source  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  discipline  of  the  Buddhist  community,  lies  in 
the  Vinaya  Pi^aka,  which  contains  a  collection  of  rules  regulating 
the  outward  conduct  of  the  Sangha  and  bhikkhus.  It  has  been 
shewn  on  page  342,  that  the  Patimokkha,  and  a  collection  of  rites 
form  the  main  substance  of  the  Vinaya,  on  which,  in  the  course 
of  time,  in  the  form  of  a  Commentary,  the  Vibhanga  and  Maha- 
Vagga,  have  been  enlarged.  To  obtain,  therefore,  a  notion  of 
earlier  Buddhism,  apart  from  historical  researches,  it  will  only 
be  necessary  to  consult  these  two  books. 

"We  may  take  it  for  granted  that  Gotama,  in  the  first  instance, 
was  the  founder  of  a  sect  of  mendicants,  to  whom  he  propounded 


352  Appendix  I. 

his  doctrine.  He  wandered  about  with  them  from  place  to  place 
begging  for  alms,  and  caring  little  for  the  wants  of  the  morrow. 
In  the  beginning  of  his  teaching  no  fixed  rules  for  the  admission 
to  the  order  of  mendicants  were  laid  down :  but  the  ever-growing 
influx  of  his  followers  made  it  necessary  to  supply  this  want.  Ad- 
mission to  the  order  was  only  granted  to  those  who  were  free  from 
all  bodily  ailments,  and  free  from  debt;  who  had  received  the 
permission  of  their  parents,  and  were  of  the  full  age  of  twenty. 
These  different  laws  shew  that  an  abuse  must  have  prevailed  for 
some  time,  and  in  the  Yinaya  some  stories  are  related  which  make 
it  apparent  that  the  laying  down  of  these  rules  was  highly  ne- 
cessary. 

Food  was  collected  daily  for  the  day  in  an  alms-bowl,  one  of  the 
necessary  requisites  of  a  Buddhist  monk,  and  no  other  food  was 
allowed  to  be  eaten.  But  of  course,  as  time  advanced,  exceptions 
were  granted,  which  made  the  rules  valueless.  It  was  then  al- 
lowed to  partake  of  meals  which  were  offered  to  the  whole  order, 
or  to  a  certain  portion  of  it.  Further,  if  a  mendicant  received 
a  special  invitation,  he  was  allowed  to  go,  and  he  received  also 
permission  to  partake  of  the  meals  offered  on  certain  days,  as  on 
the  full-moon  days,  and  the  days  following  full-moon.  His  robes 
were  to  be  taken  from  rags  found  on  a  dust-heap,  or  in  a  cemetery ; 
but  also  here  we  find  many  exceptions  to  the  rule.  Robes  made 
of  linen,  of  cotton,  of  silk,  of  wool,  of  hemp,  and  of  flax,  were 
allowed  to  be  worn,  especially  when  offered  as  a  gift  of  honour  to 
a  mendicant.  He  had  to  lodge  at  the  foot  of  a  tree.  This  rule, 
in  its  simplicity,  shews  us  clearly  that  at  the  beginning  the  com- 
munity was  a  wandering  one,  whilst  the  exceptions  make  it  evi- 
dent that  Buddhism  soon  became  a  missionary  body,  anxious  to 
make  converts,  and  to  obtain  a  permanent  footing  in  the  country. 
It  was  allowed  to  mendicants  to  dwell  in  monasteries,  large  houses, 
houses  of  more  than  one  storey,  houses  surrounded  by  walls  and 
rock-caves. 

For  his  ailments  he  was  only  allowed  to  use  cow's  urine ;  doubt- 
less a  relic  of  Brahmanical  superstition,  where,  as  it  is  well  known, 
the  cow  was  considered  a  sacred  animal.  But  in  this  case  also  later 
exceptions  made  the  rule  irrelevant;  and  if  a  modern  physician 
might  perhaps  smile  at  the  remedies,  they  could,  at  any  rate,  do 
little  harm.  They  were  clarified  butter,  butter,  rape-oil,  honey, 
and  sugar-juice.  Nay,  legends  even  seem  to  prove  that  the  art 
of  medicine  must  have  been  greatly  advanced.   Thus  a  story  is  told 


Buddhkm.  353 

of  G^Tvaka,  in  the  G^takas,  who,  after  he  had  been  instructed  by 
his  teacher,  was  sent  out  by  him  to  collect,  in  a  circuit  of  several 
yoyan^s  around  the  town,  such  herbs  as  were  utterly  useless  in 
medicine.  The  pupil  returned  saying  that  there  was  not  a  single 
herb  which  was  useless. 

JSTo  sexual  intercourse  was  allowed  to  the  monk,  and  the  slightest 
breach  of  this  commandment  was  followed  by  exclusion  from  the 
community.  "Just  as  a  man  whose  head  has  been  cut  off  is  un- 
able to  live,  so  does  a  monk  who  has  indulged  in  sexual  inter- 
course cease  to  be  one,  or  to  be  a  son  of  Sakya."  Theft  was 
rigorously  forbidden :  not  a  blade  of  grass  was  the  monk  to  take ; 
and  a  later  addition  enforces  that  if  he  should  take  a  piece  of 
silver  of  the  worth  of  two  shillings,  he  ceases  to  be  a  monk,  or 
a  son  of  Sakya. 

The  destruction  of  life  was  likewise  forbidden ;  not  even  an  ant 
must  be  killed.  Abortion  was  considered,  in  a  later  addition  of 
the  law  as  amounting  to  the  murder  of  a  human  being,  and  on 
this  latter  crime  expulsion  from  the  order  followed. 

To  put  a  check  to  bragging  about  perfection,  it  was  enforced 
that  no  mendicant  should  lay  claim  to  more  than  human  perfec- 
tion;  not  even  by  saying  that  he  delighted  in  solitude.  Hereto 
were  added,  in  the  course  of  time,  other  regulations,  which  en- 
forced that  a  monk,  who  for  sake  of  gain  untruly  and  falsely 
lays  claim  to  these  perfections,  should  be  expelled  from  the 
community. 

An  institution  belonging  to  the  earliest  Buddhism,  is  the  as- 
sembly of  the  disciples  twice  a  month,  at  full  and  new  moon,  to 
confess  the  sins  which  they  had  committed.  According  to  their 
gravity,  exclusion  from  the  order,  or  temporary  separation,  fol- 
lowed the  confession,  or  the  offender  had  to  give  ,up  the  object 
with  which  he  sinned.  Thus,  to  give  an  instance,  it  would  be  an 
offence  to  wear  a  spare  robe  longer  than  ten  days  after  a  set  of 
robes  is  finished ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  considered  an  offence 
if  a  monk  accepts  a  robe  from  a  nun,  who  is  not  related  to  him. 
Other  offences,  again,  require  confession  and  absolution,  or  con- 
fession alone. 

In  speaking  of  offences,  it  is,  perhaps,  worth  noticing  that  those 
laws  which  a  monk  is  required  to  observe  when  he  first  enters 
the  order,  are  given  under  different  headings.  Unchastity  is  enu- 
merated both  as  a  deadly  sin  and  as  a  fault,  including  temporary 
exclusion  from  the  order;  and  in  the  same  way  theft  is  con- 
sidered as  a  deadly  sin,  except  in  petty  cases  where  it  may  be 
A  a 


354  Appendix  11. 

only  a  fault  requiring  confession  and  absolution.  Only  the  de- 
stroying of  life  in  a  human  body  is  considered  a  deadly  sin, 
whilst  taking  of  life  falls  under  different  general  headings. 


APPENDIX  II. 

The  Notion  of  Conscience  amongst  the  Zulus, 
By  Bishop  Callaway. 

The  early  missionaries  found  no  word  in  the  Zulu  language  for 
"conscience."  Clearly  the  working  of  conscience  was  found 
amongst  them ;  but  we  had  no  word  to  express  what  we  mean 
by  conscience.  "We  could  not  tell  a  man,  for  example,  to  obey 
"the  dictates  of  his  conscience :"  nor  that  he  was  misled  by  a  de- 
based conscience.  If  we  used  Inhlizingo  (heart),  we  should  be  at 
once  struck  with  the  impropriety  of  telling  him  to  do  what,  per- 
haps, we  were  continually  warning  him  not  to  do,  to  listen  to  the 
dictates  of  his  own  heart ;  which  he  was  always  perfectly  disposed 
to  do,  and  claim  the  dictate  of  his  heart  as  a  sufficient  reason  and 
justification  for  any  kind  of  evil.  "My  own  heart  told  me  to  do 
it,"  was  with  the  native  a  sufficient  valid  reason  for  doing  any- 
thing. We  were  obliged  to  use  cumbersome  circumlocutions.  I 
observed  that  they  would  use  a  saying,  in  speaking  of  a  thoroughly 
bad,  wilful  evil-doer,  as  a  reason  for  his  abiding  evil-doing,  Udhliwe 
Ugovana,  "He  has  been  devoured  (eaten  up)  by  Ugovana,"  that 
is,  all  the  good  in  him  has  been  as  utterly  eaten  up,  as  the  cattle, 
&c.,  of  one  smelt  out  by  the  witch-doctor,  have  been  eaten  up  by 
a  party  of  Zulus,  sent  against  him  by  Ketchwayo,  for  the  purpose. 

"Ugovana?"    I  enquired,  "who  is  he  ?" 

"Oh!"  it  was  answered,  "Ugovana  is  the  had  man  in  us,  and 
Unembeza  is  the  good  man  in  us." 

This  not  very  lucid  answer  might  have  led  one  in  a  hurry  to 
conclude  that  the  Zulu  was  speaking  of  a  good  and  evil  spirit, 
of  whose  working  within  him  he  was  conscious.  But  on  further 
enquiry,  I  found  that  Ugovana  was  the  personification  of  an  evil 
heart,  and  Unembeza  of  a  good  heart;  "for,"  said  my  informant, 
"  every  man  has  two  hearts  in  him,  one  urging  him  to  do  evil,  and 
to  leave  off  good,  that  is  Ugovana ;  the  other,  not  to  do  evil,  but 
to  do  good,  that  is  Unembeza.  Ugovana  comes  to  us  with  a  big, 
blustering,  but  lying  voice.     He  almost  frightens  us  into  doing 


The  Notion  of  Conscience  amongst  the  Zulus.         355 

evil;  and  calls  us  fools  for  not  doing  what  we  wish  to  do,  and  our 
hearts  tell  us  to  do ;  and  asks  us  why  we  have  wishes  and  feelings 
giveii  lis,  if  not  to  gratify  them  ?  But  just  as  we  are  about  to  do 
the  evil,  Unembeza  comes  with  a  little  tiny  voice,  so  little,  that 
we  scarcely  hear  him  amid  the  noise  "Ugovana  is  making,  and  says, 
'  No,  no !  do  not  that  wicked  thing.  You  know  it  is  wicked  !  Do 
it  not.'  But  we  usually  listen  to  the  more  noisy  importunity  of 
Ugovana." 

Having  mastered  the  two  words,  in  order  to  test  my  proficiency, 
and  see  if  I  could  speak  a  little  more  impressively  on  the  subject 
of  conscience  than  hitherto,  I  determined  to  use  the  words  in 
a  sermon.  On  a  Sunday  morning,  at  our  usual  congregation,  when 
I  introduced  the  words,  every  eye  was  at  once  turned  to  me,  and, 
as  I  proceeded,  I  had  the  command  of  every  one  present ;  every 
face  was  raised  to  mine,  aud  every  mouth  slightly  opened  in 
rapt  attention  and  interest.     I  knew  they  all  understood  me. 

On  leaving  church,  I  said  nothing  to  the  Christian  natives. 
I  thought  I  would  rather  speak  on  the  subject  to  a  heathen-man 
who  had  been  present,  and  proceeded  to  walk  up  the  village ;  when 
I  met  the  man,  an  old  soldier  of  Dingan,  I  asked,  '*  Jabisana,  did 
you  understand  my  sermon  to-day  ?" 

He  replied,  his  face  all  beaming  with  a  smile,  "Tes,  indeed 
I  did,  and  here  is  a  proof  of  it,"  turning  aside  his  blanket,  and 
exposing  a  four-pronged  fork. 

"But,"  said  I,  perplexed,  "what  has  that  fork  to  do  with  my 
sermon  ? " 

"Oh,"  he  said,  "a  great  deal,  as  I  will  shew  you;  I  was  walk- 
ing along  by  these  houses,  and  saw  this  fork  lying  on  the  ground, 
and  picked  it  up.  Ugovana  said,  *  You  are  lucky  to-day,  Jabisana, 
you  have  found  a  fork.  No  one  saw  you  pick  it  up.  Hide  it 
under  your  blanket,  and  take  it  home ! '  But  Unembeza  said,  '  No, 
Jabisana,  that  would  not  be  right.  It  is  not  your  fork ;  it  has  an 
owner.  Find  him,  and  give  him  back  the  fork !'  "  And  he  added 
laughing,   "  I  intend  to  obey  Unembeza." 


Aa  2 


35G  Apjjendix  III. 

APPENDIX  III. 

The  Purusha-Sukta  {Ruj-  Veda  Sanhitd,  Book  x.,  Hymn  90; 
from  Muir's  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  i.  p.  9  foil.) 

[This  hymn  is  generally  allowed  to  be  comparatively  modern, 
i.e.  later  than  the  main  part  of  the  niff-Veda,  both  on  account  of 
its  diction  and  grammatical  structure,  the  philosophical  terms  em- 
ployed, the  mention  of  the  three  seasons  in  the  order,  spring, 
summer,  autumn  {E.-V.,  x.  161.  4,  has  autumn,  winter,  spring), 
the  description  of  the  origin  of  the  four  castes,  which  are  not 
mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  Ei^^-  Veda,  and  similar  reasons.  It  is, 
however,  an  interesting  monument  of  early  Hindu  philosophy  and 
cosmogony,  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism.] 

1.  Purusha  had  a  thousand  heads,  a  thousand  eyes,  a  thousand 
feet:  on  every  side  enveloping  the  earth,  he  overpassed  (it)  by 
a  space  of  ten  fingers. 

2.  Purusha  himself  is  this  whole  (universe),  whatever  has  been, 
and  whatever  shall  be.  He  is  also  the  lord  of  immortality,  since 
(or  when)  by  food  he  expands. 

3.  Such  is  his  greatness,  and  Purusha  is  superior  to  this.  All 
existences  are  a  quarter  of  him ;  and  three-fourths  of  him  are  that 
which  is  immortal  in  the  sky. 

4.  "With  three-quarters  Purusha  mounted  upwards.  A  quarter 
of  him  was  again  produced  here :  he  was  then  diffused  here  every- 
where, over  things  which  eat  and  things  which  do  not  eat. 

5.  From  him  was  born  Vir%,  and  from  Yira^,  Purusha.  When 
born,  he  extended  beyond  the  earth,  both  behind  and  before. 

6.  When  the  gods  performed  a  sacrifice  with  Purusha  as  the 
oblation,  the  spring  was  its  butter,  the  summer  its  fuel,  and 
autumn  its  (accompanying)  offering. 

7.  This  victim,  Purusha,  born  in  the  beginning,  they  immolated 
on  the  sacrificial  grass.  With  him  the  gods,  the  Sadhyas  and  the 
.fieshis,  sacrificed. 

8.  From  that  universal  sacrifice  were  provided  curds  and 
butter.  It  formed  those  aerial  (creatures),  and  animals  both  wild 
and  tame. 

9.  From  that  universal  sacrifice  sprang  the  liik  and  Saman 
verses,  the  metres  and  the  yayush. 

10.  From  it  sprang  horses  and  all  animals  wi.th  two  rows  of 
teeth;  kine  sprang  from  it;  from  it  goats  and  sheep. 


The  Purusha-Sukta.  .  357 

11.  When  (the  gods)  divided  Pumsha,  into  how  many  parts 
did  they  cut  him  up  ?  what  was  his  mouth  ?  what  arms  (had  he)  ? 
what  (two  objects)  are  said  to  have  been  his  thighs  and  feet? 

12.  The  Brahman  was  his  mouth;  the  Ra^anya  was  made  his 
arms ;  the  being  (called)  the  Yaisya,  he  was  his  thighs ;  the  ^udra 
sprang  from  his  feet. 

13,  The  moon  sprang  from  his  soul  {manas),  the  sun  from  his 
eye,  Indra  and  Agni  from  his  mouth,  and  Vayu  from  his  breath. 

14.  From  his  navel  arose  the  air,  from  his  head  the  sky,  from 
his  feet  the  earth,  from  his  ear  the  (four)  quarters ;  in  this  manner 
(the  gods)  formed  the  worlds, 

15,  When  the  gods,  performing  sacrifice,  bound  Purusha  as 
a  victim,  there  were  seven  sticks  (stuck  up)  for  it  (around  the  fire), 
and  thrice  seven  pieces  of  fuel  were  made, 

16,  "With  sacrifice  the  gods  performed  the  sacrifice.  These  were 
the  earliest  rites ;  these  great  powers  have  sought  the  sky,  where 
are  the  former  Sadhyas,  gods. 


Bg  tfje  same  ^utfjor* 


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359 


INDEX. 


A  few  Corrigenda  will  be  found  on  p.  xiv. 


Aahon's  rod,  315  foil. 

Abbott, Dr.,  Through  Nature  to  Christ, 
140  foU. 

Abraham,  faith  of,  34  n. ;  promise 
to,  "  thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers 
in  peace,"  147  7l. 

Absolution,  value  of,  328. 

Academics,  only  admit  probability, 
100. 

Ackermann,  C,  The  Christian  Ele- 
ment in  Plato,  97  n. 

Adam,  ordered  to  work,  306  7i. 

Aditi,  personification  of  Infinity,  78. 

Agni,  Hindu  fire-god,  76. 

Agnosticism  inferior  to  Positivism, 
307. 

Ainos,  position  of  the,  299. 

Aisvarikas  of  Nepal,  91. 

Alabaster,  H.,  Wheel  of  the  Law,  on 
merit-making  in  Siam,  269  n. ;  on 
Buddhist  hterature,  273  foil.  n. ; 
Buddhist  social  incapacity,  274  n. 

Alcestis  and  Admetus,  165. 

Alcestis,  idea  of  Death  in  the,  155. 

Alexandria,  doctrine  of  the  Church 
of,  305. 

Altar  to  the  "Unknown  God,"  144 
foil. 

Amenophis  IL,  remarkable  language 
of,  85. 

Amitabha  Buddha,  271  n. 

Andania,  inscription  of,  263  n. 

AngUcan  Church,  future  of  the,  287 
foil.,  291  foil. ;  possible  mediation 
by,  291. 

Anselm,  St.,  Cur  Deus  Homo,  185  n., 
194,  195,  196. 

Apollo,  78  ;  purification  by,  157. 

Apostles,  training  of  the,  329  foil. ; 
assurances  given  to,  330. 

"Apostolic,"  a  title  of  the  Church, 
328. 

Apostolic  ministry,  315,  328  foil.,  332. 

Apostolic  Succession,  333. 

Aieoi  of  Polynesia,  260  and  n. 

Aristotle,  deistic  tendency  of  his  mo- 
ral philosophy,  60  ;  on  desire  of 
knowledge,  70  ;  on  human  misery, 
149 ;  his  idea  of  God,  191 ;  on  the 
social  instinct,  218  n. ;  on  the 
growth  of  Society,  219  n. ;  criti- 
cism of  Plato's  Beimhlic,  229  n.  ; 
on  slavery,  237  foil.  n. 


Ark,  contents  of  the,  315  foil. 

Arnold,  Edwin,  The  Light  of  Asia, 
123  foil. 

Art-culture  in  the  Church,  310  foil. 

Asoka,  king,  council  of,  92  n. ;  mis- 
sions of,  268  71. ;  inscriptions  of 
at  Babra,  92  n. ;  elsewhere,  179  n. 

Assyrian  lamentation  of  a  sinner, 
157  foil. 

Asva-medha,  164  n. 

Athanasius,  St.,  on  Sabellianism, 
53  n. 

"  Atmada,"  meaning  of,  172  n. 

Atonement,  heathen  efforts  after, 
156-177. 

Atonement,  The,  of  Jesus  Christ,  at- 
tractiveness of,  185  ;  its  grandeur 
and  breadth,  186  foil. ;  and  God's 
Love,  191  foil. ;  and  God's  Justice, 
197  foil. ;  its  willingness,  198,  294 ; 
a  revelation  of  the  guilt  and  dan- 
ger of  sin,  200  foil. ;  a  representa- 
tion of  all  men,  204  foil. ;  union 
with,  215,  327. 

Augustine,  St.,  on  Porphyry,  103 ; 
attacks  both  Pelagians  and  Mani- 
chieans,  114  ;  on  Varro  and  Scae- 
vola,  240  n.  ;  on  Old  Testament 
moraUty,  251  n. ;  on  death  of  Mo- 
nica, 295  ;  justifies  persecution, 
313  and  n. 

Am-elius,  Marcus,  his  idea  of  duty, 
225  and  n. 

Authoritj^  nature  of,  122  ;  instinct 
for,  127  foU. ;  gjves  strength,  131. 

Authority,  tendency  to  disregard,  20. 

Avatars  of  Vish?m,  86. 

Avesta,  character  of  the,  94 ;  Spiegel's, 
159  71.     See  Parsis,  Vendidad. 

Avidya,  principle  of,  46  n. 

Bacon,  Francis,  and  the  Logos  doc- 
trine, 305  )i.  ;  on  the  duty  of  work, 
306  71. ;  on  the  need  of  humihty, 
319. 

Balder,  revival  of,  208. 

Bancroft,  H.,  Native  Races  of  the 
Facijic  States,  refs.  in  notes,  83, 
147,  159,  161,  167,  169,  174,  175, 
208. 

Banerjea,  Kev.  K.  M.,  The  Arian 
Witness,  171  foil. ;  cp.  163  7i. 

Baptism,  322 ;  heathen  rites  of,  161  n. , 


360 


322  n. ;  parody  of,  325 ;  emotion 
excited  by,  325  ;  S.  Cyprian  on, 
326. 

Barker,  Joseph,  on  character  of 
atheists,  13  n. 

Barth,  A.,  on  extinction  of  Budd- 
hism, 266  n. 

Beauty,  sense  of,  310. 

Benson,  E.  W.,  Bp.  of  Trm'o,  on 
St.  Cyprian,  295  n. 

Berkeley,  Bishop,  on  the  supposed 
defect  of  evidence  for  revelation,  5. 

Bernard,  St.,  on  love,  19  n. ;  against 
persecution,  313  n. 

Bible,  admits  the  thought  of  injus- 
tice, 5 ;  superiority  of  its  idea  of 
God,  37,  &c. ;  comprehensiveness 
of,  113, 114  n. ;  and  other  religious 
books,  119  foil. ;  union  of  fact 
and  symbol  in,  137. 

Bird,  Miss,  Unbeaten  Tracks  in  Japan, 
conversion  at  Otsu,  142  ;  treatment 
of  the  Ainos,  299  n. 

Bishops  instruments  of  Christian 
fellowship,  333.     See  Episcopal. 

Blasche  quoted  by  H.  L.  Mansel, 
104  n. 

Blood,  offering  of,  162  foil. ;  washing 
in,  163. 

Brahma,  myth  of,  84. 

Brahma-Samaj,  the,  97  n.,  214,  325. 

Brewer,  J.  S.,  Monumenta  Francis- 
cana,  313  n. 

Browning,  R.,  The  Conf essional, 10  7i. ; 
A  Death  in  the  Desert,  20. 

Buddha,  Amitabha,  271  n. 

Buddha,  Gotama,  life  of,  87  ;  date  of 
his  death,  &c.,  88  n.  ;  sympathy 
with  humanity,  88,  267,  268  ;  doc- 
trines of,  88  foil.,  266—272  ;  auda- 
city of,  89  ;  pessimism  of,  90,  271 ; 
Pelagianism,  90, 114,  281 ;  his  doc- 
trine of  Nirvana,  270  n. ;  worship 
of,  and  romantic  legend,  91  and  n. ; 
his  triumph-song,  123 ;  pretensions 
to  apathy,  124 ;  on  evil  in  the  hu- 
man heart,  150 ;  godlike  condescen- 
sion of,  267  ;  meaning  of  Buddha, 
ib.;  his  missionary  spirit,  268; 
words  at  Isipatana,  268  n. ;  sup- 
posed prophecy  of  the  extinction 
of  his  religion,  275 ;  his  means 
recommended  to  Christian  mis- 
sionaries, 275  foil. ;  contrasted  with 
our  Lord,  124,  330. 

Buddhahood,  how  attainable,  124 ; 
Buddha's  words  on  attaining,  ;7;.  n. 

Buddhism,  and  the  non-existence  of 
the  soiil,  90  n.  ;  three  refuges  of, 
188 ;  selfishness  of,  204 ;  the  great- 
est voluntary  association  outside 
Christendom,  265  ;  extinguished  in 
India,  265 ;  its  wonderful  expan- 


sion, 266 ;  northern,  266,  271,  274 ; 
its  two  great  verities,  ib. ;  its  moral 
power,  265,  267 ;  its  great  defect, 
267  foil. ;  compared  with  Positiv- 
ism, 268  foil.  ;  two  schools  of, 
ib.  n. ;  missionary  spirit  of,  ib. ; 
doctrine  of  sin  and  merit,  269  foil. ; 
indulges  tedium  of  hfe,  270 ;  highly 
anti-social,  271  foil. ;  developed  out 
of  monasticism,  272  ;  early  activity 
of,  273;  Uterature  of,  ib.;  modern 
apathy  of,  273  foil. ;  Chinese,  cri- 
ticised by  Confucianists,  274  foil. ; 
in  Ceylon,  274  ;  tradition  and  pro- 
phecy about,  275. 

Buddhism,  Sacred  Boohs  of,  see  Dham- 
mapada,  Gatakas,  Lalita-Vistara, 
Maha  -  parinibbana  -  Sutta,  Sutta- 
nipata ;  writers  on,  see  Alabaster, 
Davids,  Edkins,  Eitel,  Frankfurter, 
Hardy,  Legge,  Miiller,  Saint-Hi- 
laire. 

Buddhist  Sacred  Books,  their  date, 
92  71.,  341  f.j;  theory  of  the  origin 
of  sacrifice,  179  7i. ;  pilgrims,  265 
foil.  n. ;  Nkvana,  90,  270 foil.,  347. 

Buddliists,  number  of,  92,  and  n.,  265. 

Burial-clubs  at  Eome,  264. 

Burnet  [Bp.],  Life  of  Rochester,  141 
foil.  n. 

Bushmen,  28  n. 

Butler,  Bp.,  Analogy,  on  reason,  18  ; 
on  a  state  of  probation,  24 ;  on 
natm'al  cures  of  evil,  184 ;  on  re- 
pentance, 185  ;  on  rash  judgment, 
189 ;  on  innocent  suffering  for 
the  guilty,  197. 

Byzantine  Greek  character,  296. 

Cain,  the  sign  given  to,  157. 

Caldwell,  Bp.,  on  worship  of  Krishna, 
210. 

Callaway,  Bp.,  on  religious  ideas  of 
the  Kaffirs,  35  n.  ;  on  Kaffir  idea 
of  conscience,  151  n.,  and  App.  II. 

Cahinism,  sometimes  an  occasion  of 
unbelief,  9. 

Carlyle,  T.,  on  Positivism,  128  n.  ;  on 
the  Koran,  257  n. ;    cp.  248  n. 

Carter,  Rev.  T.  T.,  On  the  Divine 
lievelation,  196  n. 

Caste,  influence  of,  238 ;  cp.  338  ;  abo- 
lished by  Buddhism,  266;  super- 
seded in  temple  of  Jagannath,  323. 

Cathohcity,  attribute  of,  300  foil. ; 
connected  with  the  resm-rection, 
301 ;  St.  Cyril  on,  ib. ;  in  action, 
302  foil.  ;  in  thought  and  philoso- 
phy, 305  foil. ;  in  art,  310  ;  in  lite- 
ratm'e,  311 ;  in  sentiment,  312  foil. 

Cato's  saying  about  the  haruspices, 
240  and  n. 

Centurion,  the,  of  Capernaum,  329. 


361 


Cerintlius,  unites  Ebionism  and  Do- 
cetism,  G5  n. 

Ceylon,  26G,  268  n.,  274  foil. 

Chaldean'  astrology,  75. 

Chandfir  Sen,  Keshab,  his  testimony 
to  Christ,  214. 

Charismata,  the,  314  ;  cp.  332. 

ChejTie,  T.  K.,  on  Cyras  and  Darius, 
50  ;  on  Isa.  xxxv.  8,  182  n. 

Children,  sacrifice  of,  its  reason, 
168. 

China,  state  religion  of,  57  foil.  ;  its 
great  defect,  58 ;  wanting  in  ideal 
elements,  135,  See  Confucius, 
Edkins,  Legge. 

Chinese  Buddhism,  266,  269,  271, 
274  foU. 

Chinese  empire,  unique  position  of, 
86,  221 ;  deification  of  emperors, 
85 ;  ideal  of  government,  222 — 226 ; 
Emperor  Thang  offers  himself,  165. 

Chinese  primitives,  date  of,  30. 

Chiron  and  Prometheus,  see  corri- 
genda, xiv.,  165,  199. 

Christ,  our  Lord,  His  claims,  125 
foil. ;  contrast  with  Buddha  and 
Mahomet,  124  foil.,  330 ;  the  Atone- 
ment of,  185  foil. ;  willing  sacrifice 
of,  198,  294  ;  the  revealer  of  judg- 

■  ment,  202  foil. ;  our  representative, 
203  foil.;  our  example,215  foil.;  coin- 
cidence of  freedom  and  obedience 
in,  293 ;  His  presence  in  the  Eu- 
charist, 117,  327;  His  "plan"  as 
to  the  ministry,  330  foU.  See 
Atonement,  Incarnation,  Logos. 

Christ,  Jesus,  the  character  of  in 
literature,  311 ;  evidence  given  by, 
320 ;  sceptics  shirk  enquiry  into, 
320 ;  cp.  336  ?i. 

Christ,  Mahomet's  testimony  to,  125 ; 
Moslem  reverence  for,  257  and  n. ; 
but  cp.  256,  257  foil.  ;  Spinoza's 
testimony  to,  212 ;  Eousseau's,  213 ; 
Chandar  Sen's,  214  ;  the,  of  imagi- 
nation and  the  real,  211 ;  the  Imi- 
tation  of  Christ,  how  read  by  Posi- 
tivists,  213  and  n. 

Christlieb,  Th.,  Modern  Doubt  and 
ChrUtian  Belief,  43  n. 

Cliristology,  Eutychian,  54 ;  Ebionite, 
63,  124  ;  Nestorian,  65  ;  cp.  211. 

Christology,  ideal,  without  the  creed, 
129,  141. 

Church,  notes  of  the,  in  the  Creed, 
279  foil.  See  Lecture  YJIl.passim; 
and  cp.  Peace. 

Church,  Dean,  on  Sacred  Poetry,  120 
n.,  161  n. ;  Influenres nfChristiunittj 
on  National  Gliaracter,  288  «.,  esp. 
297  n. 

Church  Quarterly  Keview,  Theodore 
of  Mopsuestia,  65  ;   Nicenc  Greed, 


280  n.;  Opium  Trade,  300 n.;  Chris- 
tian Marriage,  334  n. 

Cicero,  de  Natura  Deorum  quoted, 
100  ;  Tusculans,  on  wilful  immo- 
rality, 151 ;  de  Officiis,  on  the  so- 
cial instinct,  218  n. ;  de  Bivlna- 
tione,  Cato  on  the  haruspex,  240. 

Civihzation,  its  work  imder  God,  and 
its  connection  with  mental  and  mo- 
ral changes,  3  ;  ancient,  based  on 
slavery,  237  ;  does  not  produce  Ho- 
Hness,  292;  its  depressing  effect 
on  native  races,  299  n. 

"  Civis  Eomanus  sum,"  227. 

Clarke,  Dr.  Samuel,  on  necessity  of 
Miracles,  12771.  ;  Eevelation  agree- 
able to  Beason,  132  n. 

Clay,  J.  C. ,  on  the  Vatican  Council, 
241  n. 

Cleanthes,  sin  an  impiety,  153. 

Clement  of  Alexandria  on  Buddha, 
91  n. ;  on  the  mystic  chests,  316  n. 

Clementines,  author  of  the,  130. 

Clergy,  reproaches  against,  11 ;  con- 
nexion with  the  Universities,  ih. 

Clifford,  Prof.,  Ethics  of  Belief ,  24  m. 

Codrus,  dying  for  his  people,  165. 

Coleridge,  quoted  by  J.  S.  Mill,  19  n. 

Communion  of  Saints,  283. 

Communion,  Holy,  322  foil.,  325,  and 
esp.  327  foil. ;  heathen  and  other 
paraUels,  322  foil. ;  cp.  264. 

Comprehensiveness  of  Christian  Doc- 
trine, 110,  112  foil. 

Comte,Auguste,  quoted  by  H.  L.  Man- 
sel,  105  71.;  sympathy  with  Roman- 
ism, 128  ;  recommends  the  Imita- 
tion of  Christ,  .213  ;  and  Dante, 
ib.  n. ;    on   adoration   of  women, 

■  &c.,  229  n. ;  on  living  openly, 
260  n.     See  Positivism. 

Confession,  157—161,  328. 

Confirmation,  328. 

Confucius,  coldness  of  his  character, 
58  ;  date  of,  88  n'. 

Congreve,  E.,  on  reading  the  Imita- 
tion, 213  77. 

Constantine,  legislation  of,  297  foU. 

Contemporary  Review,  Greek  Mind 
and  Death,  148  n. ;  Muhammedan 
LaiD,  257  71. ;  Positivism  and  Chris- 
tianitu,  309  n. 

Copleston,  R.  S.  [Bp.  of  Colombo], 
preface,  ix. 

Corn-ears,  in  the  mysteries,  316  foil. 

Cotton,  Bp.  of  Calcutta,  his  prayer,  iv. 

Councils,  Church,  influence  of,  303  ; 
Buddhist,  273. 

Crates,  some  evil  in  every  man,  150. 

Creed,  sustaining  power  of  the,  187 
foil.;  cp.  318  foil.;  of  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem,  280  and  77. ;  of  Con- 
stantinople, ib.;  '  Nicene,'  ib. 


362 


Crete,  medium  between  Egypt  and 

Greece,  262  n. 
Cross  in  Mexican  sacrifice,  175. 
Crusades,  the,  their  results,  304. 
Cube,  symboUsm  of  the,  282  n. 
Cyprian,  St.,  his   martyrdom,  295  ; 

on  baptism,  326. 
Cyi'il,  St.,  of  Jerusalem,  on  the  Creed, 

280  71. ;  on  CathoHcity,  301. 
Cyrus  and  Darius,  50;   called  "my 

shepherd,"  221. 

Dale,  R.  W.,  On  the  Atonement,  199 n. 

Darmesteter,  James,  50  foil.,  155. 

Darwin,  Mr.,  and  the  Fuegians, 
28  n. 

Davids,  T.  W.  Ehys,  on  Buddhism, 
quoted  in  the  notes,  87 — 92 passim; 
on  its  extinction  in  India,  265  ti. ; 
on  Buddha's  sermon,  268  n. ;  on 
Buddhist  Birth  Stories,  273  n. 

Death,  a  friend  in  the  golden  age, 
147 ;  an  avenger,  154 ;  impurity 
of,  154  foil. 

Deism,  Antln-opomorphic,  puts  God 
outside  the  world,  55  ;  its  connec- 
tion with  Judaic,  or  Ebionite  ele- 
ments, 44,  61  foil. ;  in  modern  phi- 
losophy, 305  and  n. 

Delhi,  religious  function  at,  204. 

DeUtzsch,  F.,  Christliche  Apologetik, 
on  the  idea  of  death,  154  n. ;  on 
sacrifice,  162  ?;. ;  on  Eabbinical 
Jewish  sacrifice,  164 n. ;  on  Chinese 
sin-offerings,  166  n. ;  on  self-sacri- 
fice, 169  71. ;  on  the  incompetence 
of  the  State,  232  n. 

Delphi,  oracle  of,  78,  79. 

Demeter,  myths  of,  262  ;  her  em- 
blems, 317. 

Developments,  one-sided,  319. 

Dhammapada  quoted,  on  '  self,'  90  n.; 
has  no  reference  to  marvels,  91  «. ; 
preface  to,  on  Buddha's  date,  88  7i. ; 
on  power  of  men  over  themselves, 
114  n. ;  on  evil  in  the  heart,  150  ; 
on  uselessness  of  sacrifice,  179  n. ; 
on  the  three  refuges,  188  ?;. 

Diodotus,  speech  in  Thucydides,  150. 

Dionysus-Zagreus,  262  foil. 

Dionysiac  Enthusiasm,  316  foil. 

Disunion  of  Christendom,  282  foil. 

Divorce,  Moslem,  255  and  7i. ;  in 
America,  334  )i. 

Doctrine,  Christian,  union  with  re- 
spect to,  285  ;  an  instrument  of 
peace,  318  foil.;  cp.  121,  130,  187. 

Dodona,  oracle  of,  74. 

DoUinger,  Dr.,  Heidenthtim,  referred 
to  in  notes,  on  the  Delphic  oracle, 
79  ;  danger  of  myths,  98  ;  slight 
hope  of  immortality,  101 ;  im- 
purity of   death,   155 ;   Egyptian 


confession,  161 ;  sacrifice,  163, 164, 
167 ;  on  the  mysteries,  262 ;  on 
mystic  chests,  316  ;  heathen  sa- 
craments, 323. 

Dominicans,  313. 

Dorian  principles,  261. 

Dorner,  J.  A.,  System  of  Chr.  Doct. 
on  Hegel,  47  7i. ;  Schleiermacher, 
53«.;  Scotus,  63 ?i. ;  modernheresy, 
65  n. ;  Person  of  Christ,  on  Sabel- 
Hus,  53  n. ;  Scotus,  63  »i. 

Douglas,  E.  K,  46  7i.,  209  n. 

Dualism,  characterized,  49  foil, 

Dubois,  Cardinal,  10. 

Eaton,  J.  E.  T.,  Politics,  218  n. 
Ebionite  Christology,  63,  124;    cp. 

284. 

Edda,  Saemund's,  84 n.,  208 ;  Snorri's, 
94  and  7i. ;  cp.  Grimm,  Odin. 

Edkins,  Dr.,  on  Imperial  worship  in 
China,  57  n.  ;  worship  of  Ami- 
tabha  Buddha,  271  n.  ;  Confu- 
cianist  criticism  of  Buddhists, 
275  71. 

Egypt,  knowledge  of,  goes  back  to 
B.C.  3000,  ace.  to  Mr.Eenouf,  30  h., 
84  ;  esoteric  doctrine  pantheistic, 
48  and  n.  ;  negative  confession  of 
sin,  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  161. 

Egyptian  Kings  deified,  84  foil. 

Eitel,  Dr.,  refs.  in  notes  to  his  Bud- 
dhism, on  the  Hinayana,  268  ;  pa- 
radise of  western  heaven,  271 ;  po- 
sition of  women,  272  ;  Northern 
Buddhism,  274. 

Eleusinia,  accounts  of  the,  262. 

Ellicott,  Bp.,  the  Being  of  God,  49  n. 

Emperor,  Roman,  worship  of,  85, 128, 
210,  240  foil.     See  China,  King. 

England,  influence  of  its  constitu- 
tion and  inventions,  291.  See 
Anglican  Church,  New  England. 

Epimenides,  altar  erected  by,  at 
Athens,  145?;.;  introduces  Orpliic 
mysteries  from  Crete,  262  n. 

Episcopal  government,  early  spread 
of,  284  ;  necessary  to  the  Church, 
333  ;  results  of,  contrasted  with 
Presbyterianism,  334  7i. 

Eskimo,  28  n. 

Eucharist,  see  Communion,  Holy, 
322,  327. 

Euhemerism,  240. 

Euripides,  Ion,  78  n.;  Cresphontes, 
149  ;  Alcestis  and  Hippolijtus  on 
impurity  of  Death,  154  foil. ;  Mi- 
710S  on  Orphic  life,  262  n. ;  cp.  316. 

Eutychian  heresies  tend  to  pan- 
theism, 52,  54  foil. 

Evolution,  influence  of  the  theory 
of,  307 ;  a  process  not  a  cause, 
320. 


363 


Faith  suitable  to  a  moral  being,  24 ; 

conuectecl  with    awe   by  Hindus, 

7-4 ;  Christian,  see Lect.  IV.  passim ; 

its  contact  with  scepticism,  321 ; 

sometimes  seltish,  ib.     Kee  Creed, 

Doctrine,  Truth. 
Fall,  the,  its  effects,  194. 
Fan-Hian,  265  n. 
Fatherhood,  influence  of  the  idea  on 

society,  220  foil. 
Fergusson  on  the  Temple,  282  n. 
Feuerbach  quoted  by  H.  L.  Mansel, 

104  n. 
Fihoque  controversy,  285. 
Fire-gods,  76. 

Forgiveness,  Divine,  not  a  mere  re- 
lease, 195. 
Foucart,  P.,  Des  Associations  Reli- 

gieuses,  263. 
Francis,  St.,  de  Sales,  words  of,  295. 
Franciscans,  313. 
Frankfm-ter,  Dr.  0.,  on  the  date  of 

Buddha,  88  n. ;   on  the  Gatakas, 

273  n.     See  pref.  ix.,  and  App.  I. 
Free-will  and  grace  conciliated,  113. 
Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  Christianity  suited 

to  all  forms  of  Civilization,  141  ?i. ; 

on    Moslem    character,    258  ;    on 

treatment  of  lower  races,  299  7i. ; 

Paper    at    Newcastle    on    Opium 

Trade,  300  n. 
Friends,   Society  of,  and   Christian 

Unity,  285  ;  and  spiritual  life,  332. 
Fuegians,  conversion  of  the,  28  n. 

Gardner,  Percy,  the  Greek  mind  in 
the  presence  of  death,  148  n. 

Gatakas,  or  Buddhist  Birth-stories, 
273  n. 

Gayatri,  Hindu  prayer,  76  n.,  161  n. 

Genesis,  early  chapters  of,  137  foU. ; 
on  marriage,  255 ;  on  the  duty  of 
work,  306  n. 

Gerland,  G.,  das  Aussterhen  der  Na- 
tnrvolker,  on  human  sacrifice,  166 ; 
on  the  Areoi,  250  n. ;  on  melan- 
choly of  native  races,  299  n. 

"  Great  Plan"  of  the  Shu  King,  225. 

Gnosticism,  51  and  n.  ;  early  and 
modern,  139—141. 

God,  idea  of,  as  arrived  at  by  the 
reason,  36  ;  wonderful  relation  of 
men  towards,  71 ;  His  action  often 
excluded  from  history  of  reUgion, 
72  ;  always  our  teacher,  25  n.,  321 ; 
our  power  as  fellow- workers  with, 
321  ;  condescension  of,  in  creation 
a  key  to  other  mysteries,  176 ;  His 
love,  191  foil. ;  His  mercy,  195 ; 
His  justice,  197 ;  Fatherhood  of, 
and  Christian  action,  302  foil. ;  cp. 
321.  See  Monotheism,  Theism, 
"  I  am  that  I  am." 


God,  name  of  hi  Chinese,  57  n. ; 
mean  idea  of  in  the  Koran,  63, 
244  foil.,  253 ;  Plato's  idea  of,  98, 
191 ;  Aristotle's,  191 ;  "  imknown" 
to  the  heathen,  145  foU. ;  sense  oi 
separation  from,  Lect.  V.  passim. ; 
the  Creator  overlooked  by  Budd- 
hism, 89,  268,  348  foU. 

Gods,  hving  and  travelling  amongst 
men,  83 ;  passing  away  of  the, 
96  n. 

Golden  age,  myths  of,  146  foU. 

Gospels,  criticism  of  the,  320,  336  n. ; 
"  the  Institution  of  a  Christian 
Ministry,"  329. 

Gotama,  the  Buddha,  87  foil.;  his 
godlike  condescension,  267  ;  facta 
of  his  life,  340.     See  Buddha. 

Grace  and  Free-wiU  equaUy  asserted 
in  the  Bible,  113. 

Granth  of  the  Sikhs,  119  n. 

Greek  myths  of  golden  age,  146  foil. 

Greek  rehgion,  superficial  sense  of 
sin  in,  148  ;  melancholy  idea  of 
hfe,  148  foil. 

Grimm,  Teutonic  Mythology,  74  ?i., 
84  n. ;  horse  sacrifice,  164  ?i. ;  hu- 
man sacrifice,  167/1.,  168  n. 

Guilds,  private  religious,  in  Greece, 
263  ;  in  Italy,  264. 

Guizot  on  the  mediaeval  Church,  288  n. 

Hades,  legends  of,  203, 262  ;  Gods  of, 
protect  their  favourites,  263  n. 

Hardwick,  Archd.,  Christ  and  other 
Masters,  pref.,  vii.,  84,  86,  91,  209. 

Hardy,  R.  Spence,  Manual  of  Budd- 
hism, 124  7^.  ;  on  merit  -  making, 
269  n.;  'Eastern  Monackism  on  men- 
tal inertness  of  Buddhists,  274  n. ; 
prophecy  of  the  extinction  of  Budd- 
hism, 275  n. 

Havet,  Ernest,  on  the  Gospels,  336  n. 

Hegel,  his  definition  of  Religion, 
47  n.  ;  on  the  FaU,  194  n. 

Hegelianism,  its  pantheistic  ten- 
dency, 46  foil. ;  cp.  65  n. 

Heimdall,  84. 

Hehogabalus  reintroduces  human 
sacrifice,  167. 

Herachtus,  on  oracles,  80. 

Herbert,  George,  The  Pulley  quoted, 
105. 

Herbert,  Lord,  of  Cherbitry,  64  ;  his 
book,  de  Veritate,  and  Autobio- 
graphy, 129. 

Heresy,  various  types  of,  see  Lec- 
tiu-e  II.,  and  the  Table,  68  ;  on 
fundamental  doctrines,  how  far 
limited,  285. 

Hermit  life,  218. 

Hesiod,  on  ignorance  of  prophets, 
103  ;  on  the  golden  age,  147  foil. 


364 


Hindu  philosophy,  pantheistic  cha- 
racter, 48,  267;  cp.  238;  religion 
characterized,  134  foil.,  238  ;  con- 
fession of  sin,  161  n. ;  identifica- 
tion of  victim  and  sacrificer,  163  ; 
sacrifice  and  austerity  ascribed  to 
the  gods,  170  foil. ;  human  sacri- 
fice, 166  n.,  169  n.  See  Banerjea, 
Jagannath,  Muir,  Miiller,  Vedas, 
VisliHU,  Wilson,  Wilhams. 

Hiouen  Thsang,  266  n. 

Hippolytus,  St.,  on  Ebionites,  124. 

■Historical  character  of  the  Christian 
Creed,  136  foil. 

History,  Biblical,  compared  with 
popular  mythology,  137. 

Hobbes,  Thomas,  and  the  Canon  of 
Scriptm-e,  65  ;  on  the  origin  of  so- 
ciety, 218  n. ;  supports  State  reli- 
gion, 235  ;  the  father  of  Deism, 
305  n. 

Holiness,  desire  for,  see  Lect.  V.,  VI. 

Holiness,  of  the  Church,  rests  on 
divine  grace,  292  foil. ;  in  indivi- 
duals, 294  foil. ;  in  nations,  296 
foU. ;  required  by  Christ,  300. 

"Holiness"  misappUed  by  Posi- 
tivists,  293. 

[Holland,  H.  S.],  on  Opium  Trade  ivith 
China,  300  w. 

"  Holy,"  a  title  of  the  Church,  280  n. ; 
292  foil. 

Holy  Spirit,  the.  His  work  in  art, 
310  foil.  ;  in  the  call  to  repent- 
ance, 312  ;  the  charismata  of, 
314. 

Homer,  on  human  misery,  148. 

Homeric  poems  and  the  Bible,  121  n. ; 
hymn  to  Demeter  quoted,  263  n. 

Hooker,  E.,  on  the  Sacraments, 
324  n.,  325  n. 

Hope  remaining  after  the  other  Gods, 
148  n.,  184. 

Horace,  on  wilfulness,  154  n. ;  on 
sacrifice,  180. 

Horse  sacrifice,  164. 

Hughes,  Rev.  T.  P.,  Notes  on  Mu- 
hammadanism,  on  Divine  decrees 
and  Sufiism,  62  n.  ;  on  the  Koran, 
119  n. ;  on  Mahomet's  acceptance 
of  miracles,  125  n.  ;  on  his  sinful- 
ness, ib. ;  on  practical  religion  of 
Islam,  245  n. ;  on  Jihad,  246  n. ; 
on  character  of  Mahomet  as  bind- 
ing Moslems,  248  n.  ;  ill-effects  of 
Islam,  254  n. 

Humility,  appreciated  by  Plato  and 
Plutarch,  153  n. ;  Celsus  on  Chris- 
tian, ib. ;  by  Lao-tse,  153  n.,  209  ; 
Christ's,  211  foil. 

Hunter,  Dr.  W.  W.,  Orissa,  on  Ja- 
ganaath,  169,  323  n. ;  Indian 
Musalmans,  246  n. 


Hutton,  R.  H.,  Christ's  prophecies  of 

His  own  death,  336  n. 
Hwang- Ti,  imperial  title  in  China, 

85. 

lam  that  I  am,  the  words  commented 
on,  38,  49  n. 

Idolatry  extirpated  by  Mahomet, 
253 ;  partial  survival  in  Islam, 
ib.  n.     See  Emperor,  Positivism. 

Idol-meats,  why  forbidden,  323  n. 

Ignatius  St.,  to  the  Smy means,  on 
the  fact  of  our  Lord's  death  and  re- 
surrection, 139. 

Ignorance,  especially  of  rehgious 
truth,  sinful,  7  ;  of  philosophers 
and  poets,  their  confessions  of, 
99 — 104 ;  escape  from,  the  object 
of  Buddhism,  267. 

Imad-ud-deen,  Eev.,  Autobiography 
of,  245  n.,  246  n. 

Imitation  of  Christ  read  by  Positi- 
vists,  213  ;  cp.  216. 

Imposition  of  hands  in  sacrifice,  163  ; 
in  the  inaugm'ation  of  Kings  and 
Priests  at  Ptome,  322  n. 

Incarnation,  The,  of  Christ,  176, 
and  Lect.  VI.  passim ;  philosophy 
founded  on  the,  309  ;  connection 
with  the  Sacraments,  324. 

Indian  religion,  flexible  and  unhis- 
torical,  134  foU. ;  contrasted  with 
Islam,  135.     See  Hindu. 

Indra,  faith  in,  74. 

Inexhaustibility  of  Holy  Scripture, 
118  foil. 

Infallibility,  Papal,  artificial  cha- 
racter of,  118  n. ;  how  justified, 
241 ;  its  proclamation  condemns 
the  Papacy,  288  foU. ;  remarkable 
coincidence  in  dates,  288  n. 

Infinity  and  Personahty  of  God  com- 
bined, 38  foil. ;  how  this  truth 
may  be  received,  40  foil. 

Insphation,  natural  behef  in,  92  foil. 

Intellectual  avarice,  23. 

Intellectual  coldness,  17. 

Intellectual  indolence,  14  foil. 

Intellectual  pride,  22, 

Intellectual  recklessness,  21. 

Intelligibihty,  characteristic  of  truth, 
131. 

Invisible  Church,  282  foil, 

Irenreus,  St.,  on  the  continuance  of 
faith  and  hope,  25  n. 

Isaiah  xxxv.  verses  7,  8,  "  the  way 
of  holiness,"  181  foil. 

Islam,  acknowledges  the  Scriptures, 
34  n. ;  its  doctrine  of  divine  de- 
crees (Taqdi'r),  62  n. ;  its  deistic 
temper,  62  foil. ;_  creed  of,  docs 
not  come  home  to  natiiral  reason, 
132  ;   contrast  with  Indian  Pan- 


365 


theism,  135  foil.  ;  unprogressive, 
13G  ;  absence  of  miracles  in,  125  «., 
and  142  n. ;  defective  theology  of, 
244  ioll; ;  formal  character,  245  ; 
banishes  doctrine  of  Redemption, 
245 ;  gloomy  ethics,  246 ;  good 
works,  jb.  ;  harshness,  246  foil. ; 
weighted  with  character  of  Ma- 
homet, 247  foil. ;  ill  effects  of,  on 
society,  254  foU. ;  pai-alyses  intel- 
lectual and  religious  development, 
256  ;  opposes  the  Gospel,  257.  See 
Hughes,  Koran,  Mahomet,  Six  W. 
Muir,  E.  B.  Smith,  &c. 

Israel,  history  of,  138  foil.;  what 
they  found  in  Canaan,  140  n. ; 
unique  position  of,  320.    See  Jews. 

Italian  spmt  in  rehgion,  241. 

Jagannath,  car  of,  169 ;  worship  of, 

in  Orissa,  323. 
Japan,  142,  266,  299  7i. 
Jeremiah,  on  God's  power  and  man's 

free-will,  113. 
Jesuits,  their  supposed  influence  on 

Franco- German  war,  288  n. ;  their 

work,  313. 
Jews,  Eabbinical,  sacrifice  of,   164 ; 

St.  Bernard  and,  313  n.    See  Ark, 

Israel,  Moses. 
Jihad,  religious  war,  246  n. 
Job,  book  of,  admits  a  sense  of  in- 
justice into  the  Bible,  5. 
JoinvUle,  on  the  sceptical  master  of 

theology,  5. 
Jowett,    Prof.,    his    translation    of 

Plato  quoted,  153,  242  ;  on  Dorian 

influences  on  Plato,  261  n. 
Judgment,  revealed  by  the  Sa\aour, 

203. 
Justin  Martyr,  conversion  of,  130. 

Kaffir  death-song,  35  ;  a,  on  idea  of 
God,  ib. ;  idea  of  conscience,  151, 
and  Appendix  11. ,  354. 

A'akravarti,  title  of,  92. 

Kalki,  avatar  of  Vish«u,  208  n. 

Karma,  Buddhist  doctrine  of,  90, 
184,  350. 

Kay,  Dr.  W.,  The  Slissionary,  on 
Pantheism,  45  n. ;  Promises  of 
Christianity,  296  n. ;  policy  as  to 
opium  trade,  300  n. 

Kings,  deification  of,  84 — 86.  See 
Emperor. 

Kingship,  idea  of,  220  foil. 

Knowledge,  a  duty  as  well  as  a  na- 
tural desire,  6,  7  ;  cp.  310  ;  limits 
of,  308. 

Koran,  respect  for  the,  119  ;  put 
forward  by  Mahomet  as  a  miracle, 
125  n. ;  cunning  ascribed  to  God 
in,  244  n. ;  character  of  God  in, 
245 ;  atonement  rejected  in,  ib. 
n. ;   the  Fall,  ib. ;   ferocious  Sura 


ix.  and  other  passages  on  religious 
war,  246  n.,  247  ;  how  far  tolerant, 
247  n. ;  a  witness  to  Mahomet's 
sinfulness,  247  foil.  n. ;  cp.  253  ; 
Suras  gi\ing  hcence  to  Mahomet, 
250  n. ;  against  certain  crimes, 
255  ;  on  polygamy,  &c.,  ib.  ;  its 
character,  esp.  as  taking  the  place 
of  the  Bible,  256  foU. ;  denies  our 
Lord,  257  foil. 
K;v'sh«a,  87 ;  sensual  worship  of, 
210. 

Labour,  duty  of,  303  ;  cp.  306. 

Lactantius,  on  Seneca  as  a  witness 
against  heathenism,  152. 

Lalita-Vistara,  legend  of  Buddha, 
96  foil.  n. 

Lamech's  wives,  not  a  solar  myth, 
137  foil.  n. 

Lao-tse,  on  humility,  209  ;  cp.  153  n. 

Las  Casas  and  slavery,  298. 

Lasaulx,  die  Silhnopfer,  167  «. 

Latin  character  influenced  by  Chris- 
tianity, 296.    See  Roman. 

Laws  of  natm-e,  306  foil. 

Legge,  Prof.  James,  on  date  of  Chi- 
nese iDrimitives,  30  n. ;  on  name  of 
God  in  Chinese,  57  n. ;  quotation 
from  Chinese  prayers,  57  foil. ;  on 
Confucius,  58 ;  on  idea  of  inspi- 
ration in  China,  59  n. ;  on  title 
Hwang-Ti,  85  n. ;  on  Emperor 
Thaug,  165  n. ;  on  Lao-tse,  209  n. ; 
Chinese  criticism  of  Buddhism, 
275  n. ;  on  opimn-trade,  300  n. 

Leland  on  the  Deists,  235  n. 

Lenormant,  Francois,  Origines  de 
I'Histoire  d'apres  la  Bible,  137  n. ; 
on  Cain's  confession,  157  n. 

Liberty,  vindication  of,  226  foil. 

Liddon,  H.  P.,  preface,  x;  on  tho 
Bible,  114  n. ;  on  our  Lord's  claims, 
123  n. ;  on  the  sense  of  sin,  149  n. ; 
on  mission  from  Christ,  328. 

Lightfoot,  J.  B.  [Bp.  of  Durham], 
St.  Paul  and  Seneca,  60  n. ;  on 
the  Tiibingen  theory,  284  n. 

"  Live  openly,"  a  Christian  motto, 
260. 

Lobeck,  Aglaopliamus,  its  value  and 
defects,  261  n. 

Locke,  John,  on  human  ignorance 
of  God,  37  ;  on  miracles,  127. 

Logos,  The,  working  in  History, 
108;  doctrine  of  the,  305  foil., 
309  ;  and  Lord  Bacon,  305  n. 

Loki,  84. 

Love,  necessary  to  understand  the 
language  of  Love,  19  ;  its  power 
in  extending  and  intensifying  per- 
sonality, 41 ;  true  character  of, 
192  foil. 

Lucan,  Cato's  speech  in,  quoted,  45. 


366 


Lucian,  Pseudo-,  Philopatris,  on  the 

"  unknown  God,"  145. 
Lustration  of  a  city,  234. 
Lustrations,  imply  taint  of  sin,  161. 

See  Baptism. 
"  Lustricus,  dies,"  323  n. 
liuthardt,  Fimdamental  Truths,  10  n., 

209   71. ;    Savinri    Truths,    149  n. , 

165  n. ;  3Ioral  Truths,  149  n. 
Lycurgus,  legislation  of,  261. 


Maha-parinibbana-Sutta  quoted,  on 
the  Buddha's  age,  87  n. ;  on  the 
noble  truths,  88  foil. ;  on  the  three 
refuges,  89  ;  date  of,  92  n. ;  salva- 
tion attained  by  each  for  himself, 
114  n. 

Mahomet,  did  not  claim  miracles, 
125  n.,  and  142  n. ;  contrasted 
with  our  Lord,  125,  330  ;  admitted 
the  sinlessness  of  Ckrist,  125  n. ; 
cp.  247 ;  his  principle  of  enforcing 
religion,  236,  244  foil. ;  low  idea  of 
the  Fall,  245  ;  a  mediator  to  some 
of  his  followers,  245  n. ;  did  not 
love  God,  246  n. ;  his  attitude  to 
idolaters,  Jews  and  Chi'istians, 
246  foil.  71. ;  confesses  his  own 
sinfulness,  247  and  7i. ;  his  mixed 
character,  248 ;  Ms  moral  lapse, 
249—251 ;  liis  harem,  249  n. ;  acts 
of  cruelty,  ib. ;  why  not  a  true 
prophet,  250  foil. ;  relations  to 
Mary  and  Zeinab,  250  n. ;  how  far 
sincere,  252  foU. ;  his  reforms,  253, 
255 ;  not  content  with  his  proper 
position,  254 ;  estabhshes  a  low 
social  state,  255  ;  closed  the  Bible, 
256 ;  puts  his  own  character  in 
the  place  of  Christ's,  256;  false 
teaching  about  Christ,  257 ;  false 
prophecy  of  Peace,  259,  276,  278. 

Mahomet,  writers  on,  referred  to  in 
the  notes :— T.  Carlyle,  248,  257 ; 
T.  P.  Hughes  (q.v.),  125,  248; 
J.  B.  Mozley  (q.v.),  63,  245  ;  Sir 
W.  Muir  (q.v.),  249,  250;  Th. 
Noldeke,  248 ;  J.  B.  Saint-Hilaire 
(q.v.),  247,  249  ;  E.  B.  Smith  (q.v.), 
246,  248, 250,  252 ;  Sprenger,  249  ; 
Stobart,  245,  246,  249,  258  ;  Tiele, 
249. 

Mahometans  acknowledge  the  Scrip- 
tures, 34.     See  Islam,  Moslems. 

Maine,  Sir  H.,  Early  History  of  In- 
stitutions, 219  n. 

Manco  Ccapac  sacrifices  his  cliild, 
168. 

Manna,  the,  as  a  type,  315. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  on  oiDium,  300  n. 

Mansel,  H.  L.  [Dean],  on  Anthro- 
pomorphism, 43  n. ;   on  Gnostics, 


51  n. ;    on    ignorance    of  Modern 

Philosophers,  104  n. 
Mara,  the  Buddhist  Tempter,  124  n. 
Marquardt,  J.,  Privatlehen  derRUmer, 

323  71. ;    Staatsverwaltung,  323  n., 

324  7i. 

Marriage,  Moslem  idea  of,  inferior 
to  Hindu,  255  n. ;  Christian,  303, 
328,  334 ;  cp.  219.  See  Polygamy, 
Divorce. 

Martensen,     Christian     Dogmatics, 

191  71. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  Religions  of  the 
World,  preface,  vii. ;  Ki7igdom  of 
Christ,  on  absolution,  328  7i.\  on 
the  Ministry,  329  ;  sacerdotalism, 
332  71.  ;  Episcopacy,  333. 

Megasthenes  on  Buddha,  91  7i. 

Merit,  Buddhist  doctrine  of,  269  foU. 

Merivale,  Dean,  on  the  Perusinse 
arae,  167  «. ;  on  the  cessation  of 
sacrifice,  178  ?i. 

Messianic  prophecy,  207  foil. 

Mexican  mythology,  83  ;  confessions 
of  sin,  159  foU. ;  baptism  of  in- 
fants, 161  71. ;  human  sacrifice, 
166  foil. ;  cp.  160, 169  n. ;  reaction 
against,  169  7i. ;  sacrifice  of  gods 
Huitzilopochtli  and  Xiuhtecutli, 
174.  175  71.    See  also  Quetzalcoatl. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  his  dejection  and 
collapse,  19. 

Milman,  Bp.  of  Calcutta,  Love  of  the 
Atonement,  203  7i. 

Ministry,  Christian,  its  value,  291, 
315,  331  foil.;  institixtion  of  in 
the  Gospels,  329  foil.  ;  brings 
home  Christ's  presence,  331 — - 
333 ;  influence  on  doctrine  and 
morals,  334.    See  Ordination. 

Minucius  Fehx,  on  natural  mono- 
theism, 34  71. 

Miracles,  asked  for  by  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  61  foil.  ;  necessary  for 
aRevelation,127»l.,142  7^. ;  Christ's 
admitted  by  Mahomet,  125 ;  ab- 
sence of,  in  Islam,  125  n.,  and 
142  n. 

Missionary  alphabet,  xiii. 

Missions,  Church,  304  ;  cp.  preface, 
viii.  foil.     See  Oxford. 

Mitra,  God  of  day,  77. 

Moab,  King  of,  sacrifices  his  son, 
168. 

Moloch,  sacrifice  to,  167,  168  n. 

Mommsen,  Th.,  on  decay  of  Roman 
religion,  240 ;  de  CoUegiis,  264  n.  ; 
R.  Staatsrecht  on  inauguration, 
322  71. 

Monasticism,  value  of,  218  n.,  313 
foil. 

Monica,  death  of,  296. 

Monotheism,  natural,  33  foil. ;  only 


367 


publicly  held  by  those  who  possess 
the  Scriptures,  33  foil.,  37. 

Moravians,  313.. 

Moses  and  the  Ethiopian  woman, 
252  n. 

Moslems,  character  of,  258  ;  their  re- 
gard for  Mahomet,  248  n. ;  Muslim, 
meaning  of,  244.  See  Islam,  Ma- 
homet, Koran. 

Mozley,  J.  B.,  preface,  vii. — ix* ;  his 
classes  for  graduates,  65  n. 

Mozley,  J.  B.,  on  the  duty  of  hope 
and  noble  wishes,  21  n.;  on  sel- 
fish love  of  Truth,  23  n.  ;  on  Ma- 
homet's idea  of  God,  63,  245  n. ; 
Essay  on  Oracles,  79  n. ;  on  the 
necessity  of  Miracles,  127  ;  on  the 
Sacrifice  of  Isaac,  168  n. ;  on  the 
Atonement,  197  ;  on  War,  232  n. ; 
on  the  morality  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, 251  n. ;  Lord  Strafford, 
295  n. 

Muir,  Dr.  John,  Sanskrit  Texts,  refs. 
in  notes,  74,  75,  76,  77, 84 ;  theories 
of  inspiration,  95  ;  cp.  146 ;  Purusha- 
Sukta,  Appendix  III. ,  356. 

Muu-,  Sir  W.,  his  judgment  of  Ma- 
homet, 249  foU.  n.  ;  quotations 
from  his  Life,  246  foil.;  on  ill 
effects  of  Islam,  254  n. ;  puts  Hindu 
above  Moslem  marriage,  255  n. 

Miiller,  Prof.  F.  Max,  his  missionary 
alphabet,  xiii.  foil. ;  refs.  in  notes, 
his  series  of  Sacred  Books,  30 ;  his 
judgment  on  them,  120  (text) ;  on 
faith  of  Abraham,  34 ;  on  Parsi 
monotheism,  51 ;  name  of  God  in 
Chinese,  57  ;  Hibhert  Lectures  quo- 
ted, 75,  78  ;  on  date  of  Buddha's 
death,  88 ;  Buddhist  doctrine  of 
the  soul,  90  ;  worship  of  Buddha, 
91 ;  number  of  Buddhists,  92 ;  pass- 
ing away  of  the  gods,  96  ;  on  sup- 
posed primeval  revelation,  146 
(text) ;  Vedic  confessions  of  sin, 
161;  on  Buddhist  Nihilism,  &c., 
270  ;  Migration  of  Fables,  273. 

[MuUinger,  J.  B.,]  the  New  Reforma- 
tion quoted,  241  n.,  287  n.,  288  n. 

Muni,  hfe  of  a,  271  n. 

Miirder,  guilt  of,  156. 

Music,  theology  of,  262  ;  in  the 
Church,  311. 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  Essay  on  Oracles, 
75  n.,  79  n. 

Mylne,  L.  G.  [Bp.  of  Bombay],  On 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  65  n. ;  pre- 
face, ix.  71. 

Mystery  to  be  expected  in  our  view 
of  the  Divine  Nature,  41  foil.  ;  of 
scientific  truths,  115 ;  of  human 
nature,  116 ;  of  Christian  truth, 
117 ;  false  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 


ception   and    Papal    InfalUbility, 

118  71. 

Myths,  confession  of  the  danger  of, 
98  and  n. 

Nature,  Voices  of,  74  ;  Laws  of,  306 
foil. 

Neander,  Church  History,  on  Gnosti- 
cism, 51  n. ;  on  theology  of  Islam, 
245  n. ;  hopes  for  Islam,  258  n. 

"  Nebuchadrezzar  my  servant,"  221 ; 
pronounced  his  own  degradation, 
288. 

Nestorianism  and  Pelagianism,  65. 

Neubauer,  Dr.,  on  Isa.  xxxv.  8, 182  n. 

New  England,  divorce  in,  334  n. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  Grammar  of  Assent, 
on  false  candour  of  sceptics,  17  n. ; 
strange  connection  of  the  cultus 
of  the  B.V.M.  with  Arianism, 
63  foil. 

"Nicene  Creed,"  280  n. 

Nineteenth  century,  Reliyion  of  Zoro- 
aster, 50  71. ;  Modern  Pa7-sis,  51  n.; 
Odinic  songs  in  Shetland,  [not  Scot- 
land], 173  n. 

Nirvana,  Buddhist,  90,  270  foil. ;  pro- 
bable theory  of,  270,  and  347  foil. ; 
Max  Miiller  upon,  270  7i. ;  Siitta- 
Nipata  on,  ib. ;  neglected  by  many 
modern  Buddhists,  271 ;  women, 
incapable  of,  directly,  272. 

"Nuk  pu  nuk"  in  Egyptian,  what 
it  really  means,  49  Ji. 

Obedience,  virtue  of,  220. 
Ocellus  Lucanus,  224  7i. 
Odin,  the  High  one's  Lesson,  173  foil. 
Offertory,  the,  327. 
One-sidedness  in  religion,  110. 
Oi^ium  trade  with  China,  300  and  n. 
Order,  our  Lord's  delight  in,  329. 
Ordination,  328.    ,  See  Ministry. 
Origen  on  "mere  faith,"  18  7i.  ;   on 

the  office  of  faith  in  human  life, 

25  n. ;  on  moral  'danger  of  unbelief, 

128  71. 
Ormazd  and  Ahriman,  50  ?^. 
Orpheus,  myth  of,  262. 
Orphic  societies,  261 ;    Hfe,  262  n. ; 

mystery-mongers,  265. 
Osborn,  Major  E.  D.,  Muhammedan 

Law,  257  n. 
Osiris,  myth  of,  174 ;  and  Dionysus- 

Zagreus,  262. 
Ovid,  on  the  propensity  to  evil,  151 ; 

on  identity  of  victim  and  sacri- 

ficer,  164. 
Oxford    Missionary    Association    of 

Graduates,  pref.  viii.,  28  «.,  300  n. 

Pantheism  in  the  Church  connected 
with  heathen  elements,  44  ;  its  de- 
structive character,  47  foil. 


368 


Pantheism  and  Deism  contrasted,  43 
to  end  of  Lecture  ;  cp.  307  ;  mutu- 
ally exclusive,  111 ;  modern  ten- 
dency to,  307. 

Pantheistic  interpretation  of  myths 
of  suffering  gods,  175  foil. 

Papacy,  self -condemned,  288  foil. 
See  InfallibiUty,  Romanism. 

Papinenipalli,  Christians  of,  324  n. 

Parsis,  modern  monotheistic,  34  ?i., 
50  foil,  and  n. ;  on  impurity  of 
death,  155  ;  confession  of  sin,  158 
foil. ;  confession  of  faith,  188  ;  ex- 
pect a  deliverer,  208. 

Pascal,  "  qu'il  faut  aimer  les  choses 
divines  pour  les  conuaitre,"  19  n. ; 
on  the  negligence  and  "bassesse 
de  ccBur  "  of  iniidels,  21  n ;  Chris- 
tianity a  combination  of  the  in- 
ternal and  external,  109  n. ;  on  the 
Incarnation,  202. 

Patets,  Parsi  confessions,  159. 

Patriarchal  principle,  234 ;  cp.  220 
foil. 

Paul,  St.,  his  speech  at  Athens,  69, 
107,  143  foil. ;  co-ordinates  grace 
and  free-will,  113 ;  rests  on  his- 
torical fact  of  the  Eesiurrection, 
139 ;  blames  Athenian  supersti- 
tion, 144 ;  thought  highly  of  the 
natural  evidences  of  religion,  ib. ; 
enforces  labour,  303  ;  on  the  min- 
istry, 330. 

Peace,  natural  desire  for,  see  Lect. 
Vn.  passim ;  cannot  be  assm-ed 
by  civil  society,  230 ;  failure  of 
threefold  attempt  to  secm-e,  236 
foU.,  276,  278  foil. 

Peace  of  the  Church,  see  Lect.  VIII. 
passim,  211  foil. ;  unity,  280  foil. ; 
Hohness,  292  foil.;  Catholicity, 
300  foil.,— in  action,  302  foU.  ; 
thought,  305  foil. ;  art,  310  ;  feel- 
ing, 312  ;  Doctrme,  318  foil. ;  Sa- 
craments, 322  foU. ;  DiscipUne,328. 

Pelagianism,  its  connection  with 
Nestorianism,  65 ;  Pelagian  cha- 
racter of  Buddhism,  90,  114,  281 ; 
Pelagian  tendency  of  modern 
schism,  287  foil. 

Penitentiaries,  etc.,  303  ;   cp.  300. 

Permanence,  an  attribute  of  Truth, 
133  foil. 

Persecution,  loss  of  the  power  of, 
289,  290;  fallacy  of,  313. 

Persian  Dualism,  50. 

"  Perusinae  arje,"  167  n. 

Peshyotanu,  expectation  of,  208. 

Pfleiderer  Religions  pMlosophie  on 
Schleiermacher,  54  n. ;  on  the  Fall, 
194  n. ;  on  Mahomet,  248  n. 

Pharisaism  deistic,  61 ;  cp.  252  n. 

Philosophers  confess  ignorance,  104. 


Philosophy,  Christian,  305  foil.; 
demand  for,  309  foil. 

Pindar,  on  the  counsels  of  the  Gods, 
103. 

Plato,  on  the  art  of  divination,  82 ; 
forbids  admission  of  the  Poets,  97 ; 
on  the  Idea  of  Truth,  98  ; '  his 
hope  of  a  Divine  Word,  99 ;  idea 
of  a  golden  age,  146  foil. ;  on  the 
strife  of  good  and  evil  in  the  soid, 
150 ;  on  divine  justice  and  like- 
ness to  God,  153  ;  respect  for  hu- 
mility in,  153  11. ;  against  super- 
stition and  immoral  theology  of 
sacrifice,  178,  243;  his  idea  of 
God,  191 ;  the  ideal  just  man,  209 
on  the  gi'owth  of  society,  219  n. 
his  Eepuhlic  on  education,  228 
on  position  of  women,  229 ;  on 
slavery,  237  n. ;  on  the  pattern  of 
the  Ideal  State,  242  ;  his  creed  in 
the  Laws,  243  ;  to  be  made  com- 
pulsory, 243  foil. ;  inadequate  idea 
of  a  priesthood,  244. 

Plutarch,  on  the  Stoic  polity,  27  n. ; 
on  oracles,  79  7i.  ;  on  birth  and 
death,  149  n. ;  on  superstition  and 
atheism,  177 ;  on  the  mysteries, 
263  n. ;  cp.  316. 

Poetry,  Christian,  311. 

Polybius,  his  rationalistic  view  of 
Eoman  religion,  238  foil. 

Polygamy,  Mahomet's,  249  ;  Moslem, 
255  ;  evils  of,  255  foil. ;  Sallust  on 
Moorish,  256  ;  abolished  by  Chris- 
tianity, 303.     See  Marriage. 

Pomegranate,  316  foil. 

Pope,  Alex.,  pantheistic  lines  of,  46. 

Positi\ism,  its  worship  of  Humanity, 
128,  308;  its  mottoes,  260,  268; 
its  morality  compared  with  Budd- 
hism, 268  foil. ;  superior  to  Agnos- 
ticism, 307  ;  its  failure,  308  ;  what 
it  wants,  309  ;  Dr.  Westcott  on, 
309  n.     See  Comte. 

Porphyry,  his  collection  of  oracles, 
102,  128  ;  his  confession  of  uncer- 
tainty, 103  ;  de  abstinentia,  147  n., 
168  71.,  262  n. 

Praja-pati  called  atmada,  172. 

Prayer,  neglect  of,  15  foil. 

PreUer.  Griech.  Myth.,  147,  165,  167, 
262  ;  Rim.,  163,  164,  167. 

Prichard,  J.  C,  on  unity  of  human 
race,  29  n. 

Probation,  life  a  state  of,  24. 

Prometheus,  see  corrigenda,  xiv.,  76 
and  n.,  165. 

Psalter,  use  of  the,  120. 

Punishment,  future,  202  foil. 

Pura??as,  date  of  the,  87  7i. 

Pm-usha-Sukta,  95  and  n.  See  Ap- 
pendix III.,  356. 


86d 


Pytliagoras,  date  of,  88  n. 
Pythagorean  societies,  character  of, 
260  foil. ;  influence  on  Plato,  261. 
Pythia,  thej  at  Delphi,  79. 

Quatrefages,  A.  de,  on  unity  of  hu- 
man species,  29  foil.  n. 

Quetzalcoatl,  the  gentle  god  of  Mex- 
ico, 84  n. ;  happy  Uf e  under,  147  n. ; 
forbade  human  sacrifices,  169  n. ; 
his  return  expected,  208  ;  Cortes 
mistaken  for,  ib.  n. 

Quirinus,  on  Vatican  Council,  288  n. 

Eavajia,  power  of,  170. 

Eagnarok,  xiv.  and  96. 

Eeason,  true  place  of,  17  foil. 

Eedeemer,  character  expected  in  a, 
207.   See  Christ. 

Eehgion,  unity  of,  27 ;  a  matter  of 
moral  choice,  66 ;  history  of,  mis- 
take often  made  in  tracing,  72  ;  as 
an  influence  on  society  in  non- 
Christian  States,  234  foil. ;  three 
methods  of  applying,  235  foil. 

Eeligions,  three  fundamental  ideas 
of  all,  31,  335. 

Eenan,  E.,  his  demand  for  a  miracle 
at  Paris,  61  n. ;  his  peculiar  po- 
sition, 64  foil.  n. ;  exaggerates  im- 
portance of  Eoman  collegia,  264  n. ; 
on  the  necessity  of  religion  to  so- 
ciety, 291  n. 

Eenouf ,  P.  le  P. ,  on  our  knowledge  of 
Egypt,  30  11. ;  on  "  nuk  pu  nuk," 
49  71. ;  on  divinity  of  Egyptian 
kings,  84  foil. 

Eepentance,  hmited  power  of,  184  foil. 

Eepresentation,  principle  of,  204  foil. ; 
of  two  kinds,  205  ;  natural,  206. 

Eesurrection,  the,  its  connection  with 
Catholicity,  301  foil. ;  influence  on 
literature,  311 ;  call  to  in  the 
Church,  312. 

Eevelation,  natural  expectation  of, 
72  foil.  ;  both  ideal  and  practical, 
109  foil. ;  needed  to  enforce  pri- 
mary truths,  33,  37,  291 ;  Moslem 
regard  for,  257. 

Eewards  for  virtue,  how  Umited,  232 
foil. 

Eichter,  F.,  quoted  by  H.  L.  Mansel, 
104  n. 

Eimini,  Council  of,  286. 

"Eishi,"  Vedic  seer,  172  n. 

Rita,  ideal  Duty,  78. 

Eobertson,  F.  W.,  the  Illusiveness  of 
Life,  140  n. ;  Absolution,  328  n. 

Eochester,  Earl  of,  his  conversion, 
141. 

Eodwell's  Koran,  247  n. 

Eoman  Emperor,  deification  of,  85, 
128,  210,  240  foU. 


Eoman  history,  later,  a  record  of 
crime,  151  foil. 

Eoman  religion,  common  sense  of, 
169  ?i. ;  described  by  Polybius,  238 
foil. ;  decay  of,  240  ;  Varro  on, 
240  ;  inauguration  of  a  king,  322 
n. ;  sin-offerings  in,  323  n. ;  conse- 
cration of  daily  food,  324  n. 

Eomanism,  its  deistic  side,  63  foil. ; 
artificial  mysteries  of,  118 ;  and 
Positivism,  128 ;  subordinates  truth 
to  expediency,  241  ;  secularity  of, 
287  foil. ;  work  of  mediaeval,  288. 
See  Infallibility. 

Eousseau,  J.  J.,Emile,  on  Christ  and 
Socrates,  213  ;  Contrat  Social,  on 
"Natural  Slavery,"  237  n.;  on 
"  Civil  Eehgion,"  243  n. 

Eyder,  Admiral  A.  P.,  on  the  protec- 
tion of  women,  300  n. 


Sabellian  and  Eutychian  heresies, 
51  foil. 

Sabellianism,  its  pantheistic  ten- 
dency, 52  foil. 

Sacerdotalism,  false  and  true,  332  f. 

Sacraments  of  the  Church,  322  foU. ; 
an  extension  of  the  Incarnation, 
324 ;  the  ministry  necessary  to, 
831  heathen,  322  f.,  324  ;  cp.  264, 
317.     See  Baptism,  Communion. 

Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  30  n. ;  criti- 
cism of,  120. 

Sacrifice,  element  of  self-denial  in 
all,  162  ;  for  sin,  ideas  underlying 
it,  ib. ;  offering  of  blood,  163 ;  im- 
position of  hands,  ib. ;  identified 
with  the  sacrificer,  163  foil. ;  of 
white  bull,  ram,  horse,  164  and  n. ; 
willingness  to  die  required  in,  164 ; 
human,  165 — 169  ;  as  voluntary 
self-surrender,  165  foil.  ;  as  ritual 
institution,  166  foil. ;  feelmgs  that 
lead  to,  168 ;  reaction  against,  169 
foil. ;  forbidden  at  Eome,  167  n., 
169  n. ;  to  Jupiter  Latiaris,  &c., 
167  n. ;  of  children,  168  ;  of  a  king 
and  of  a  guest,  ib. ;  ascribed  to 
the  gods  in  India,  170  ;  of  self  of 
the  "  Lord  of  Creatures,"  171 ;  of 
Purusha,  172;  of  0dm,  173;  of 
Mexican  gods,  174  foil. ;  of  Osiris 
and  others,  174  ;  principle  involved 
in  these  myths,  176  ;  tendency  to 
give  up  as  useless,  178  foil. ;  Budd- 
hist opinion  of,  179  n. ;  Horace, 
Odes,  iii.  23,  on,  180 ;  at  Eoman 
meal,  323 ;  Christ's,  pleaded  in 
the  Eucharist,  327  (see  Atonement) ; 
union  with,  215,  327. 

Saint  -  Hilaire,  J.  Barthel6my,  ad- 
mires Mahomet,  249  n.;  on  his 


Bb 


370. 


toleration,  247  n.;  on  Buddhism, 

267  11. 
Sakyamuni,  87.     See  Buddha,  Go- 

tama. 
Salhist,  on  Moorish  polygamy,  255 

foil. 
Sarasvati,  river  goddess,  75. 
Savitn',  prayer  to,  76. 
Sayce,  A.  H.,  Accadian  Psalm,  158  n. 
Scaliger,   Joseph,   his  dying  words, 

296. 
Scepticism,  its  attraction,  318  foU. ; 

connection  with  faith,  319  foil. 
Schism,  some  chief  causes  of,  285 

foil. ;   schismatic  temper  a  check 

on  heresy,  286. 
Schleiermacher,  his  pantheistic  and 

Sabellian  leanings,  53  and  n. 
Scholasticism,  its  great  efforts,  305  ; 

why  it  failed,  306. 
Schopenhauer,  quoted  by  H.  L.  Han- 
sel, 104  n. 
Scotland,  reUgion  in,  334  n. 
Scott,  Sir  W.,  his  power,  311. 
Scotus,  Dims,  his  theory  of  the  In- 
carnation, 54  71. ;  Deistic  tenden- 
cies of,  63  and  n. 
Sculptm'e,  neglect  of,  311. 
Sea-Gods,  oracular,  75. 
Secrecy,    natural  passion  for,   260; 

cp.  70  foil. 
Secret  societies,  their  danger,  260. 
Secularism,  a  result  of  Deism,  56. 
Secularity  in  the  Church,  287  foil. 
Seneca,  on  Immortality,  101 ;  on  the 

wickedness  of  his  times,  152. 
Servius,  on  silence  at  Eoman  meals, 

324  n. 
Seventy,  the,  330. 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  (the  philosopher) 

supports  state  religion,  235. 
Shakespeare,  his  power,  311. 
Shang-Ti,  in  Chinese,  57. 
Shelley's  idea  of  illusion,  46. 
Shepherd,  the  good,  214;   cp.   147, 

220. 
Shu-King,  The,  character  of,  222  foU. 
Siam,    Buddliism    in,    269,    271   n., 

273  n. 
Sibyl,  the,  208  foU. 
Simonides,  on  the  perfect  man,  282  n. 
Simplicity,  not  a  necessary  mark  of 

truth.  111. 
Sin  and  unbehef  connected  by  our 

Lord,  6 ;  of  voluntary  ignorance, 

6,  7. 
Sin,  secret  inclination  to,  12  foil. ; 

heathen  sense  of,  149 — 154 ;  con- 
nected with  death,  154  foil. ;  con- 
fession of,  156—161,  328;  its  work 
in  the  world,  193  foil. ;  revelation 
of  its  guilt  and  danger,  200  foil.  ; 
.     Blight  sense  of  in  Islam,  245,  253  ; 


Buddhists  view  it  as  a  misfor- 
tune, 269. 

Sinlessness  of  the  Eedeemer,  207  ; 
falsely  ascribed  to  Mahomet,  248. 

Sin-offerings,  162  foil.  ;  Boman  and 
Jewish,  323  n. 

Sins  of  the  intellect,  14—23. 

Slavery,  abohtion  of,  198,  298 ; 
Greek  and  Eoman  civilization 
based  upon,  237 ;  Plato's  and  Aris- 
totle's views  of,  237  foil.  n. ;  Eous- 
seau  on,  ib. ;  Mahomet  legahzes, 
255  ;  influence  of  the  Gospel  on, 

297  and  n. ;  negro,  institution  of, 

298  ;  repentance  for,  ib. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  Mansel's  Letter  to, 
43  n.  ;  Does  the  Bible  sanction 
American  Slavery  ?  298  n. 
Smith,  John,  Select  Discourses,  82  n. 
Smith,  E.  Bosworth,  Mohammed  and 
Mohammedanism,  Mahomet  did  not 
love  God,  246  n. ;  admires  M. , 
24S  n. ;  thinks  him  a  ' '  true  pro- 
phet," 250  ;  letter  from  Mir  Aulad 
Ali,  248  n. ;  tendency  to  justify  M., 
252  n.  ;  on  Moslem  reverence  for 
our  Lord,  257  n. 

Society,  natural  to  man,  218  ;  an  ex- 
tension of  the  family,  219;  influ- 
ence of  religion  on,  234  foil. 

Socinians,  285. 

Socrates,  his  relation  to  the  oracles, 
80  foil. ;  his  inward  monitor,  82  ; 
trial  and  death  of,  98  ;  compared 
with  Christ,  213  ;  his  independence 
as  a  citizen,  227. 

Solon,  on  concealment  of  the  mind 
of  the  gods,  103. 

Soma,  Hindu  god,  76  n. 

"  Son  of  Man  "  in  Daniel,  221. 

Sophocles,  Antigone  on  wondrousness 
of  man,  184  ;  CEd.  Colon,  on  birth 
and  death,  149  n.  ;  on  intercession, 
165  n. ;  Antigone  on  man's  power 
of  conquering  evil,  184. 

Spinoza,  his  one  substance,  45  ;  He- 
gel on,  47  n.  ;  Schleiermacher  on, 
53  n. ;  his  testimony  to  Christ, 
212. 

State,  origin  of,  219  ;  conception  of, 
227  foil. ;  cannot  give  happiness, 
230  foil. ;  its  negative  position, 
232. 

Steere,  Bp. ,  Attributes  of  God,  185  n. ; 
on  conversion  to  Islam,  258  n. 

Stephen,  Leslie,  English  Thought  in 
ISth  century,  243  n. 

Stoics,  their  deistic  side  and  connec- 
tion with  Judaism,  60  and  n.  ;  on 
oracles,  81  n. ;  polity  and  ideal  of 
Peace,  27  «.,  230. 

Strafford,  Lord,  his  speech  on  the 
scaffold,  295. 


371 


Strauss,  D,  F.,  hia  connection  with 
the  Eutychian  school,  54  ;  quoted 
by  H.  L.  Mansel,  104  n. 

Sufiism,  62  n.,  246. 

Sun-gods,  Vedic,  76  and  n. 

Superstition,  blamed  by  St.  Paul, 
144 ;  compared  to  Atheism  by  Plu- 
tarch, 177  ;  praised  by  Polybius  as 
a  pohtical  instrument,  238  foil.; 
use  of  the  term  in  Greek,  239  n. 

Supremacy,  Koyal,  suggestion  about, 
289  foU. 

Sutta-Nipata,  quoted,  on  "Karma," 
90  n.  ;  levitation  in,  91  n. ;  on  ori- 
gin of  sacrifice,  179  m.  ;  on  the 
three  refuges,  188  n. ;  on  her- 
mit-life, 204  n.,  271  n. ;  on  Nirva- 
na, 270  foil.  71. 

Table,  comparing  different  religious 

systems,  68. 
Tables  of  the  Law,  315  foil. 
Talbot,  E.  S.  [Warden  of  Keble  CoU.], 

preface,  xi. ;  on  Slavery,  298. 
Tao,  its  pantheistic  character,  46 ; 

cp.  Lao-Tse. 
Taoism  in  China,  59. 
"  Tapas,"  austerities,  power  ascribed 

to,  170. 
Taurobolia  and  Criobolia,  163. 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  on  the  Sacraments, 

324  n. 
Temple,  form  of  the  Jewish,  282  n. 
Tennant,  Sir  J.  E.,  on  Buddhism  in 

Ceylon,  274  n. 
Terence,  "Homo  sum,"etc.,xiv.,  27. 
Tertullian,  the  place  of  Eeason,  17  n. ; 

the  soul  naturally  Christian,  33. 
Testament,   Old,  points    to   Christ, 

126 ;   morality   of,    251    and    n. ; 

Mahomet's  neglect  of,  254.      See 

Bible,  Genesis. 
Testament,  New,  criticism  of  the,  66, 

320.     See   Gospels.    Eevised  ver- 
sion quoted,  144  n.,  260  n. 
Teutonic    mythology,    see    Grimm, 

Edda,   Odin  ;    national  character 

and  Christianity,  297. 
Tezcathpoca,  in  Mexico,   seats  left 

for,  83. 
Thang,  Chinese  Emperor,  ready  to 

die  for  his  subjects,  165  ;  cp.  223  n. 
Theism,  Biblical.     See  Lect.  II. 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia  and  Modern 

Thought,  65  n. 
Theognis,  on  Hope,  148  n.,  184  n. ; 

on  birth  and  death,  149  n. 
Tholuck's  Guido  and  Julius,  104  n., 

149  n.,  202  n. 
Thompson,  J.  C,  48  n. 
Thor,  74,  84. 
Thoro  the  Dane  sacrifices  his  child, 

168. 


Thucydides  on  the  Trojan  war,  304. 

Thunder,  gods  of,  74  ;  oracles  from, 
75. 

Thyrsus,  the,  of  Dionysus,  316  foil. 

Ti,  or  Shang-Ti,  57. 

Tiele,  Outlines  of  Rel.,  119  n.,  249  n. 

T!mda\,Rights  of  the  Christian  Church, 
on  civil  reUgion,  243  n. 

Transliteration  of  Oriental  words, 
xiii.  foil. 

Transmigration,  270 ;  cp.  339. 

Transubstantiation,  artificial,  117. 

Trench,  B.  C.  [Abp.] ,  Hulsean  Lec- 
tures, 114  n. ;  MedicBval  Ch.  Hist. , 
on  influence  of  Eome,  288  n. ;  on 
works  of  mercy,  303  n. ;  on  the 
Crusades,  304  n. 

Trinity,  doctrine  of,  a  bulwark  of  the 
divine  Personality,  52  foil. ;  mys- 
tery of,  112 ;  mtelligibility  of,  132 
foil. ;  unity  of  the,  its  relation  to 
the  Church.  281. 

Trinity  of  the  Buddhists,  188  n. 

Trumpp,  Dr.  E.,  on  the  Adi  Granth, 
119  n. 

Truth,  Christian  pursuit  of,  23 ;  na- 
tural passion  for,  70 ;  an  element 
in  all  widespread  beUef,  111  ; 
Christian,  comprehensive,  110 
foil. ;  mysterious,  115  foil. ;  inex- 
haustible, 118  foil. ;  authoritative, 
122  foU. ;  intelligible,  131  foU. ; 
permanent,  133  foil.  ;  a  source  of 
freedom,  131 ;  subordinated  to  ex- 
pediency, 236 — 241  ;  imposed  by 
force,  236,  241  foil.;  sought  in 
voluntary  societies,  236,  259  foil. ; 
failure  of  these  three  attempts,  276, 
278  foil. 

Truths,  the  four  Noble,  of  Bud- 
dhism, 88. 

Tubingen  School  of  criticism,  64, 
65  ;  on  the  early  Church,  284. 

Tylor,  E.  B.,  Primitive  Culture,  on 
human  sacrifice.  166  n.;  lustration 
of  children,  322  n. ;  heathen  sacra- 
ments, 323  n. 

Ueberweg,  Hist,  of  Philosophy,  on 
Schleiermacher,  53  n. ;  Scotus, 
63  71. ;  Plotinus,  102  n. 

Unbelief  and  Sin,  6. 

Unbelief,  its  moral  causes,  8 — 23. 

Unitarians,  285. 

Unity  of  the  Church,  its  double 
sense,  280  foil. ;  rests  on  the  Unity 
of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  281 ;  of  the 
early  Church,  283 ;  present,  on 
points  of  doctrine,  284  foil. ;  pro- 
spects of,  287  ;  office  of  the  Church 
of  England  towards,  291  foil. 

Unity  of  the  Godhead  the  basis  of 
Christian  Unity,  280  foil. ;  coinci- 


372 


deuce  of  will   and   goodness  in, 

293. 
Unity  of  the  human  race,  28 — 30. 
Unity  of  religion,  27  ;  heathen  view 

of,  27  n. 
"Unknown  God"  at  Athens,  &c., 

145. 
Upanishads,  Pantheism  of  the,  45. 

and  n. 
Utopias,  inadequacy  of,  233  foil. 

Vaishnava  reforms,  97  ?i.,  323  n. 

Varro,  Marcus,  on  religion  and  the- 
ology, 240. 

Varu?ia,  77. 

Vasishi;«a,  77. 

Vata,  hymn  to,  75. 

Vatican  Council,  composition  of  the, 
241  11. ;  striking  synchronism  re- 
specting, 287  n. ;  new  period  be- 
gins with,  288, 

Vaughan,  The  Trident,  &c.,  173 
and  71. 

Vedantism,  the  converse  of  Hege- 
hanism,  46. 

Vedas,  The,  94  foil.;  theories  of 
their  inspiration,  95  ;  importance 
of  knowing,  96. 

Vedic  gods,  74—78. 

Vedic  hymns,  depth  of  mysterious 
ideas  in  the,  77  foil.  ;  formulae  of 
confession  in,  161. 

Vendldad,  on  purification,  155  foU.n. ; 
on  confession,  158. 

Vigftisson,  Dr.  G.,  on  Odin's  song, 
I73  n. ;  on  Kagnarok,  xiv. 

Vidar,  son  of  0dm,  208. 

Virgil,  79  n.,  155  n. ;  Pollio,  208. 

Virgin,  the  Blessed,  cultus  of,  63 ; 
connection  with  Arianism,  64  n. ; 
influence  on  Positivism,  229  n. 

Vishwu,  avatars  of,  86 ;  sacrifice  of, 
173.    See  Vaish?iava. 

Voltaire  on  the  Christian  rehgion, 
10  ;  his  deism,  64. 

Wace,  H.,  preface,  x. ;  on  cavils 
against  Christianity,  10  n. ;  on 
Prof.  CHfford's  Ethics  of  Belief, 
24  n. ;  on  Bacon,  305  n.,  306  n. 

Waitz,  Theodor,  on  unity  of  human 
species,  29  11. ;  cp.  166. 

Waldenses,  313  ;  cp.  note. 

Wallon,  H.,  Histoire  de  VEsclavage, 
298  n. 

War,  impossibility  of  preventing, 
230—232. 

Water-gods,  oracular,  75. 

Wesleyans,  313. 

Westcott,  B.  F.,  on  the  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  62  n. ;    on  the  "  good 


shepherd,"  214  n.  ;  on  Positiv- 
ism, 309  n. 

White,  Blanco,  Autobiography,  23  n. 

Wilberforce,  R.  I.,  on  the  Incarnation, 
quoted,  206 ;  on  the  sacraments, 
324  n. 

Wilmanns,  Imcr.  Lat.,  145  n, 

WiUiams,  Prof.  Monier,  on  the  Hin- 
du Philosophy,  48  ;  on  Zoroaster, 
50 ;  the  Parsis,  51 ;  Hindu 
Theistic  Reformers,  97,  214  ;  Hin- 
du confession,  161 ;  asva-medha, 
164  ;  human  sacrifice,  169  ;  Rava- 
na,  170. 

Wilson,  Prof.  H.  H.,  quoted,  87  n. ; 
on  human  sacrifice,  166  n. 

Wind,  "  The  Breath  of  the  Gods," 
75. 

Women,  low  position  of,  in  China, 
222  n. ;  ideas  about  in  Plato's  Re- 
public, 228  foil. ;  Comte's  theories 
about,  229  n. ;  work  of,  in  modern 
society,  229 ;  Mahomet's  passion 
for,  249  n. ;  degraded  by  Islam, 
255  ;  Buddhism  on,  272  ;  protec- 
tion of,  300.     See  Polygamy. 

Wool,  balls  of,  in  the  mysteries, 
316  foil. 

Wordsworth,  Charles,  Bp.  of  St.  An- 
drews, on  the  Christian  ministry, 
334  71. 

Wordsworth,  Chr.,  [Bp.  of  Lincoln], 
Letters  to  Gondon,  18  n. ;  the  Mo- 
hammedan Woe,  246  n. 

Wordsworth,  Wm.,  Ode  to  Duty,  78. 

Work,  duty  of,  303,  306  ;  vaguely 
recognized  by  heathens,  317 ;  power 
of,  among  Christians,  321. 

Worship,  pubUc,  neglect  of,  15  ;  the 
ministry  guarantees,  334;  heathen, 
234. 

Wurtz,  Prof.  Ad.,  On  the  Atomic  The- 
ory, 115  n, 

Xenophanes,  Pantheism  of,  45. 

Xenophon,  on  Socrates  and  the  ora- 
cles, 81  foil. ;  on  the  "  two  souls  " 
in  men,  150  foU. ;  on  the  noble  in- 
dependence of  Socrates,  227. 

Xiuhtecutli,  Mexican  god  of  fire,  175. 

Tggdrasil,  symbol  of  the  world,  174. 
Yogis,  asceticism  of,  170. 

Zeller,  on  Xenophanes,  45 n. ;  on  date 
of  Pythagoras,  88  n. ;  on  Plato, 
98  n. ;  on  Pythagorean  societies, 
261  n. 

Zoroastrian  confession  of  faith,  188. 
See  Avesta,  Parsi,  Persian,  Ven- 
didad. 

Zulus.     See  Kaflirs. 


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